Investigating and comparing the causes of hospitalization and infant mortality rate before and after the implementation of physicians’ residency in the NICU of Pastor Bam Hospital

The infant mortality rate is one of the most important indicators of society’s health. It seems that the continuous presence of a specialist doctor in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) effectively improves the functional indicators of the newborn department. This study aimed to investigate and compare the causes of hospitalization and the death rate of infants in the neonatal department before and after the implementation of Physician residency.

Following a descriptive-analytical design, this cross-sectional study was performed before and after implementing the residency plan in the neonatal department of Bam Pastor Hospital. Information on 1,219 newborns was extracted by referring to their files, and the effect of the Physicians residency program on the death rate and hospitalization of newborns was investigated.

The results did not show a significant difference between the hospitalization rates before (601 people) and after (618 people) the plan. Also, there was no significant difference in the surfactant intake of infants before and after the implementation of the plan (P=0.15). There was no significant difference between the hospitalized infants in the two studied periods in performing invasive and non-invasive ventilation (P>0.05), although the number of non-invasive ventilation increased by 20% after the plan. The results showed that the death rate after the plan has significantly decreased by more than 50% (from 36 to 17 people) (P=0.02).

The implementation of the residency plan reduced both death and hospitalization of newborns. With the continuous presence of specialist doctors in the NICU, the mortality rate, as one of the most important health indicators, can be improved.