Neonatology and Perinatology

Neonatal Mortality & Neonatal Nursing

Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate, which is the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births. Neonatal nursing is a subspecialty of nursing that works with new-born infants born with a variety of problems ranging from prematurity, birth defects, infection, cardiac malformations, and surgical problems. The neonatal period is defined as the first month of life; however, these new-borns are often sick for months. Neonatal nursing generally encompasses care for those infants who experience problems shortly after birth, but it also encompasses care for infants who experience long-term problems related to their prematurity or illness after birth.

A few neonatal nurses may care for infants up to about 2 years of age. Most neonatal nurses care for infants from the time of birth until they are discharged from the hospital. A neonatal death is defined as a death during the first 28 days of life (0-27 days). The NMR is often broken down into early and late mortality rates.