Neonatal Assessment and Resuscitation

Neonatal care is complex, multifactorial, and multidisciplinary. The provider has to take into consideration physiologic, clinical, ethical, and technological factors that will impact the long-term neonatal outcome. This is an important consideration, as the US infant mortality rate remains higher than any other developed nation.1 The decrease in the rate of neonatal mortality in the US has been mainly attributed to better understanding of neonatal assessment, advances in neonatal resuscitation, and risk mitigation of birth-related neurological injuries. Understanding risk factors for poor fetal outcomes, neonatal assessment, and resuscitation is essential to the practice of obstetric anesthesia.