Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Birth before arrival at hospital (BBA) is associated with unfavourable perinatal outcomes and increased mortality. An important risk factor for mortality following BBA is hypothermia, and emergency medical services (EMS) providers are well placed to provide warming strategies. However, research from the UK suggests that EMS providers (paramedics) do not routinely record neonatal temperature following BBA. This study aimed to determine the proportion of cases in which neonatal temperature is documented by paramedics attending BBAs in the South West of England and to explore the barriers to temperature measurement by paramedics. ⋯ This study demonstrates a lack of neonatal temperature measurement by paramedics in the South West following BBA, and highlights barriers and facilitators that could serve as a basis for developing an intervention to improve neonatal temperature measurement.