Heart murmurs and echocardiography findings in the normal newborn nursery

Objective To determine the clinical findings and management implications of echocardiograms performed on infants with murmurs in the nursery. Design Retrospective cohort study conducted from January 2008 through December 2015. Patients in the study were followed by chart review for up to 5 years. In addition, a survey of nursery providers was conducted in February 2016. Setting A single community hospital associated with a university. Patients All 26 573 infants who received care in the normal newborn nursery were eligible for inclusion in the study. Infants with echocardiograms were analyzed. The survey was sent by e‐mail to all 135 physicians who work in the nursery. Outcome Measures The primary outcomes include the specific findings on echocardiogram and whether the findings required an acute change in management, outpatient follow up, or were incidental findings. The primary survey question was how physicians would manage an otherwise asymptomatic newborn with a heart murmur. Results Four hundred ninety‐nine infants had echocardiograms, and over the study period the utilization of echocardiography increased from 1.02% to 2.56% (P