Newborn Examination Essay

2767 Words12 Pages
NEWBORN PHYSICAL EXAMINATION Maternity Guideline Newborn Physical Examination. Sept 2012 Multidisciplinary guidelines group Page 1 of 13 Introduction This physical newborn examination forms part of the Child Health Promotion Programme in the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity (DH 2008). It is also included in the NICE clinical guideline for the NHS: Routine Postnatal Care of Women and their Babies (NICE 2006). The Newborn and Infant Physical Examination Standards and Competencies have been clearly defined by the Antenatal and Newborn Screening Programmes (March 2008). This guideline should be taken in conjunction with these documents. Its purpose is to provide the scope of practice for neonatal examiners at Imperial College NHS Trust in order to provide a standardised, high quality service (NMC 2008, UK National Screening Committee 2008). Who performs the examination? The newborn examination can be carried out by appropriately trained midwives, neonatal nurse practitioners and medical staff. All new doctors and neonatal nurse practitioners to the Trust will receive training on the newborn physical examination during their local induction period. Newborn examinations by midwives All midwives must provide evidence of passing a recognised educational module for ‘Examination of the Newborn’ prior to examining newborns. If midwife examiners have trained outside of the UK then they must be deemed competent following a practical assessment by a Trust Consultant Neonatologist. Professional competency must be maintained in accordance with NMC (2008). Midwives should consider using a Register for newborn examinations as evidence of practicing skills, developing clinical experience and also as a tool for audit. The Newborn and 6-8 Week Infant Physical Examination Digital Toolbox (http://newbornphysical.screening.nhs.uk/toolbox/) is a

More about Newborn Examination Essay

Open Document