Examination of the Newborn

The purpose of this assignment is to explore the issue surrounding screening and examination of the new born from birth. The article will look at why we perform this examination following birth and will pay particular attention to the examination of the eye. It is documented that the purpose of the first examination of the new born is to confirm normality and to provide reassurance to the parents (MacKeith, 1995, Hall, 1999) and also to identify any apparent physical abnormality (Buston and Durward 2001). However the question that we may wish to consider is ‘what is normal in a neonatal who is undergoing major physiological adaptations to extra uterine life (Blackburn and Loper, 1993) ? How as midwives can we fulfil this expectation of norm, when there is, as Hall (1999) suggests no confirmation of normality available ? Nevertheless a thorough search of the literature suggests that the neonatal examination is universally accepted as ‘good practice’, and any deviation from this practice could perhaps, potentiate negligence when subjected to the Bolam test (Sherratt, A, 2001). This test is often used as a benchmark to measure any negligence by, and examines if another professional of same standing would act in the same manner.
This area will be explored in more detail later in the essay, when looking at the legal and ethical aspects of the new born examination firstly I would like to examine what is the examination of the new born, why we should do it and who us best placed to undertake the procedure ?
The examination forms part of a range of post delivery screening opportunities, which include; * A midwife check immediately after birth * Neonatal blood spot test * Hearing test * Eight week physical examination, usually performed by a GP.
It could also be argued that it is an extension of antenatal screening tests from the beginning of the pregnancy when the mother is offered various scans and blood tests to try to ensure a safe outcome of the