SATISFACTION WITH OBSTETRIC CARE - RELATION TO NEONATAL INTENSIVE-CARE

Objective: To examine the relationship between admitting children to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and mothers' satisfaction with ob stetric care. Methods: Mothers of live-born infants who are now normal were interviewed about their perceptions of the interpersonal, organi zational, and technical care they and their babies received during pre gnancy, delivery, and the neonatal period, and their and their infants ' health. Comparisons between the responses of mothers whose babies we re admitted to the normal nursery (n = 595) and those whose babies wer e sent to an NICU (n = 72) were made by chi(2) analysis (1 df) and Wil coxon rank sum tests. Results: Mothers whose babies were admitted to a n NICU were more likely to complain that their obstetricians did not e xplain things in terms they could understand (P <.05); did not give th em the right amount of information about what to expect during pregnan cy (P <.05); hid something from them before delivery (P <.001); did no t explain the reasons for tests performed during delivery (P <.05); mi sled them about their child's prognosis (P <.001); failed to treat pro perly a problem during delivery (P <.05); and did not know the latest medical developments (P <.05). Conclusion: Even when children do well, admission of newborns to an NICU is associated with greater maternal dissatisfaction with obstetric care. (C) 1998 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.).