Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom, and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about neonatal resuscitation.

And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic, you can follow along at 0.com

slash neonatal resus or in the neonatology section of the zero to finals pediatrics book.

So let's get straight into it.

When you're responsible for performing resuscitation, it's important to always check the local

and national guidelines, get appropriate training and have assistance from an experienced person.

This is an overview for the purpose of helping your

understanding and learning the underlying principles of neonatal resuscitation and it's not

aimed to be a guideline or to teach you how to perform resuscitation. But it should help you

in preparation for your exams. Firstly, let's talk about hypoxia. And hypoxia is a key aspect of neonatal resuscitation.

Normal labour and birth will lead to hypoxia in the baby. During labour, when the mother is

experiencing contractions, this squeezes the placenta and makes it unable for the placenta to carry out

normal gaseous exchange, and this leads to hypoxia. Extended hypoxia will lead to anaerobic

respiration and a subsequent drop in the fetal heart rate, which we call bradicardia. Further hypoxia will lead to reduce consciousness and a drop in

respiratory effort, and this in turn worsens the hypoxia. An extended hypoxia to the brain leads to

hypoxic, ischemic encephalopathy, or h.E, with potentially lifelong consequences in the form of cerebral palsy.

Other than hypoxia, there are a few other issues that are key in neonatal resuscitation.

Babies have a large surface area to weight ratio, which means that they can get cold very easily.

Babies are born wet, which means they can lose heat very rapidly

and again become cold. And some babies are born through maconium, which may get into their

mouth and airway and worsen their respiratory distress. Let's talk about the principles of

...