Established Evidence Results

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HOSPITAL, Continuing Education of Hospital Providers, POPULATION-BASED SYSTEMS, INTER-HOSPITAL SYSTEMS, Maternal/In-Utero Transport Systems, Follow-Up Given On Transferred Patients, STATE, Perinatal Committees/Councils, NICU Bed Registry/Electronic Bulletin Board

Intervention Description: To determine whether perinatal care in southwestern Ontario is regionalized, to identify trends over time in referral patterns, to quantify trends in perinatal death rates and to identify trends in perinatal death rates that give evidence of regionalization.

Intervention Results: Between 1982 and 1985 the antenatal transfer rate increased from 2.2% to 2.8% (p less than 0.003). The proportion of births of infants weighing 500 to 1499 g increased from 49% to 69% at the level III hospital. The neonatal transfer rate increased from 26.2% to 47.9% (p less than 0.05) for infants in this birth-weight category and decreased from 10.2% to 7.1% (p less than 0.03) for infants weighing 1500 to 2499 g. The death rate among infants of low birth weight was lowest among those born at the level III centre and decreased at all centres between 1982 and 1985.

Conclusion: Perinatal care in southwestern Ontario is regionalized and not centralized; regionalization in southwestern Ontario increased between 1982 and 1985.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: Southwestern Ontario One level III, one modified level III and 30 level II or I

Population of Focus: Births greater than 500 gm

Data Source: Data obtained from hospital delivery room books and for 31 of the 32 hospitals, from hospital charts of women and neonates.

Sample Size: Pretest: 1.17% (n= 194) Posttest: 1.31% (n= 211) Infants born weighing 500-1499 gm

Age Range: Not specified

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Maternal/In-Utero Transport Systems, INTER-HOSPITAL SYSTEMS, POPULATION-BASED SYSTEMS, Consultation Systems (Inter-Hospital Systems), Perinatal Committees/Councils, NICU Bed Registry/Electronic Bulletin Board

Intervention Description: The goal was to evaluate the impact of statewide coordinated changes in perinatal support and retrieval services on the outcomes of extremely premature births occurring outside perinatal centers in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Intervention Results: There were 25% fewer nontertiary hospital live births (19.7% vs 14.9%) and more prenatal steroid use. Despite an 11.4% average annual increase in NICU admissions between the 2 epochs, fewer infants were outborn (12.0% vs 9.3%) and outborn mortality rates decreased significantly (39.4% vs 25.1%), particularly for those between 27 and 28 weeks of gestation. The overall improvement was equivalent to 1 extra survivor per 16 New South Wales births. There were also significantly fewer serious outcome morbidities in outborn infants during epoch 2, over the improvements in inborn infants.

Conclusion: Statewide coordinated strategies in reducing nontertiary hospital births and optimizing transport of outborn infants to perinatal centers have improved considerably the outcomes of extremely premature infants. These findings have vital implications for health outcomes and resource planning.

Study Design: QE: pretest-posttest

Setting: New South Wales, Australia hospitals Seven perinatal centers

Population of Focus: Infants born between 23+0 and 28+6 weeks GA who did not die before or during retrieval.

Data Source: Baseline population data for all births between 23 and 28 weeks GA obtained from the New South Wales Midwives Data Collection.

Sample Size: Pretest (n= 1,778) Posttest (n= 3,099)

Age Range: Not specified