Maternal near miss as a predictor of nursing diagnoses in critically ill newborns in intensive care

The aim of the present study was to analyze maternal near miss as a predictor of the Nursing Diagnoses of critically ill newborns admitted to intensive care. This cross-sectional, retrospective study was carried out by analyzing the medical records of mothers and their newborns born in a University Hospital and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the period from January 2007 to December 2016. Newborn infants weighing less than 500 grams and with gestational age less than 22 weeks were excluded. Initially, mothers presenting maternal near miss criteria were identified. Subsequently, the newborns’ diagnoses were surveyed by screening their medical records for possible diagnostic indicators, carried out through the identification of defining characteristics and related or risk factors according to the Taxonomy of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA-I). Data referring to 47 diagnoses of 272 children were collected. A logistic regression model was used to assess whether the diagnosis of maternal near miss, present in 28 mothers, predicted each of the children’s diagnoses. The results suggest that the diagnosis of maternal near miss acts as a predictor of 12 diagnoses in newborns: Impaired Skin Integrity, Risk for Disproportionate Growth, Risk of Developmental Delay, Risk of Thermal Injury, Risk of Vascular Trauma, Risk of Infection, Risk of Hypothermia, Risk of Sudden Infant Death, Hypothermia, Risk of Aspiration, Risk of Damaged Oral Mucosa, and Risk of Unstable Blood Glucose.