Providing immediate neonatal care and resuscitation at birth beside the mother: parents’ views, a qualitative study

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to assess parents’ views of immediate neonatal care and resuscitation at birth being provided beside the mother, and their experiences of a mobile trolley designed to facilitate this bedside care. DESIGN: Qualitative study with semistructured interviews. Results were analysed using thematic analysis. SETTING: Large UK maternity hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Mothers whose baby received initial neonatal care in the first few minutes of life at the bedside, and their birth partners, were eligible. 30 participants were interviewed (19 mothers, 10 partners and 1 grandmother). 5 babies required advanced neonatal resuscitation. RESULTS: 5 themes were identified: (1) Reassurance, which included ‘Baby is OK’, ‘Having baby close’, ‘Confidence in care’, ‘Knowing what's going on’ and ‘Dad as informant’; (2) Involvement of the family, which included ‘Opportunity for contact’, ‘Family involvement’ and ‘Normality’; (3) Staff communication, which included ‘Communication’ and ‘Experience’; (4) Reservations, which included ‘Reservations about witnessing resuscitation’, ‘Negative emotions’ and ‘Worries about the impact on staff’ and (5) Experiences of the trolley, which included ‘Practical issues’ and ‘Comparisons with standard resuscitation equipment’. CONCLUSIONS: Families were positive about neonatal care being provided at the bedside, and felt it gave reassurance about their baby's health and care. They also reported feeling involved as a family. Some parents reported experiencing negative emotions as a result of witnessing resuscitation of their baby. Parents were positive about the trolley.