Regionalization of neonatal intensive care. Results and experience at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Rijeka University Hospital

To analyse mortality of extremely low (ELBW) and very low (VLBW) birth weight nawborns at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Rijeka University Hospital, before, during and after implementing a model of regionalization of perinatal care. In Croatia this model is still not established so the results can help us evaluate whether the suggested model is practicable and whether its appliance decrease newborns' mortality. We compared early neonatal mortality (RNM), neonatal mortality (NM) and intrahospital mortality (MOB) of ELBW and VLBW newborns at the pediods before (1997-2000), during (2000-2001) and after (2003-2006) the implemented changes. RNM was significantly lowered for both weight groups, but NM and MOB only for VLBW newborns. Our results show that appliance of regionalization of perinatal care is possible and unquestionable on local level, so it should be implemented on national level too.