Readiness of obstetric professionals to inform parents regarding potential outcome of premature infants

Abstract

Parents often regard obstetric professionals as an important source of information regarding prematurity. However, there is no information regarding the readiness of these obstetric professionals to inform expectant parents of the potential outcomes of premature infants. Using a self-report questionnaire, we determined the knowledge of obstetric professionals regarding outcomes of premature infants, and gauged their confidence in providing this information to expectant parents. Some 50% of obstetric professionals reported that they ‘struggle to answer parental questions’ regarding premature infants. The majority of obstetric professionals correctly identified potential morbidities of prematurity, but compared to neonatal professionals, they were less likely to discuss this information with parents. When they do provide information to parents, obstetric professionals were least likely to discuss neurological morbidities. Our study has identified an important barrier to the effective transfer of neonatal outcomes information to expectant parents. This limitation requires further investigation and intervention.

Keywords::

• Counselling
• knowledge
• nurse
• obstetrics
• premature infant
• prenatal

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Girija G. Konduri and Ms Joan M. Reik for manuscript review.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.