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Aug 23, 2016Article Details
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Main Article Content
Feasibility of Pulse Oximetry Pre-discharge Screening Implementation for detecting Critical Congenital heart Lesions in newborns in a secondary-level maternity hospital in the Western Cape, South Africa: The ‘POPSICLe’ study
Abstract
Objectives. To document the feasibility of implementing pre-discharge POx screening in well babies born at Mowbray Maternity Hospital, a busy government hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Parent and staff acceptance was assessed.
Methods. We conducted a prospective study of predischarge POx screening in one postnatal ward, following informed parental consent.
Results. During the 4-month study period, 1 017 of 2 256 babies discharged (45.1%) were offered POx screening and 1 001 were screened; 94.0% of tests took <3 minutes to perform, 4.3% 3 - 5 minutes and 1.7% >5 minutes. Eighteen patients needed second screens and three required third screens. Only 3.1% protocol errors were made, all without consequence. The vast majority (91.6%) of nursing staff reported insufficient time to perform the study screening in addition to their daily tasks, but ~75% felt that with a full nursing staff complement and if done routinely (not part of a study), pre-discharge POx screening could be successfully instituted at our facility. Over 98% of the mothers had positive comments. Two babies failed screening and required echocardiograms; one was diagnosed with CCHD and the other with neonatal sepsis. The sensitivity and specificity were 50% (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3 - 98.7%) and 99.9% (95% CI 99.4 - 100%), respectively, with a percentage correct of 99.8%.
Conclusions. POx screening was supported and accepted by staff and parents. If there are no nursing staff shortages and if it is done routinely before discharge, not as part of a study, we conclude that POx screening could be implemented successfully without excessive false positives or errors, or any additional burden to cardiology services.
