Abstract
Background
Emergency baptism remains an important emotional and spiritual element for many parents of critically ill infants in the neonatal unit. There is no published data available as to which neonates are baptised and their outcomes.
Objectives
To evaluate trends, outcomes and characteristics of newborn infants baptised over a 15-year period in an Irish maternity hospital.
Methods
Retrospective study of infants baptised in University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) over a 15-year period. Patients were identified from the ‘register of baptisms’ for the years 2002–2016.
Results
A total of 354 neonates were identified and further information was available for 341. We observed a gradual decline of emergency baptisms over the 15-year period. A total of 114 (32.2%) infants were term and 199 (56.2%) preterm. A total of 288 infants (81.5%) were baptised by Catholic priest, 61 (17.3%) by staff member, 1 (0.3%) by family member and in 3 cases (0.9%) the person baptising was unrecorded. Day of baptism varied from 1 to 88 with a mean age of 4.6 days. A total of 113 (31.9%) neonates died after baptism. Majority of infants baptised were preterm and low birth weight, with predominance of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) who also had proportionately higher mortality 47 (47.5%) following the baptism.
Conclusion
Emergency baptism remains an important element in the spiritual care of the critically ill newborn infants and their families. Maternity hospitals and neonatal units should have access to emergency baptism service or other equivalent ‘spiritual blessings’ as appropriate to the faiths followed by the family, especially in an emerging multi-faith population.
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Acknowledgements
Authors wish to acknowledge the support from neonatal nurses and midwives for data source compiling, Ms. Colette Quinn, Senior Neonatal Nurse for acting as an information source for the clinical data of VLBW and ELBW infants and Ms. Louise Reid, Audit officer, for the advice on audit process. We also acknowledge the support from spiritual leaders from various denominations and clinical staff for their support in emergency spiritual blessings of sick babies over the years.
Funding
No funding support in the data collection, analysis or preparation of the manuscript.
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Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Fionnuala M. Caulfield (FMC), Omolola A. Ihidero (OAI), Marie Carroll (MC), Margo Dunworth (MD), Marie Hunt (MH), Desmond McAuliffe (DMA) and Roy K Philip (RKP).
RKP recognised the significance of the theme, designed and supervised the study and edited the manuscript. FMC collected the patient outcome data, analysed the results and prepared the first draft of the manuscript. OAI compiled the initial data from the baptism register. MC, MD and MH collated the supporting information. RKP collected and tabulated the perinatal and neonatal population details for the hospital. DMA has overseen entry of information to the primary register of baptisms and contributed to the pastoral and chaplaincy sections. All authors critically revised the manuscript for important academic content, agreed on the final draft and approved its submission for publication.
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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Informed consent
Not applicable. Anonymous data source access was authorised after University Maternity Hospital Audit Committee approval.
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Caulfield, F.M., Ihidero, O.A., Carroll, M. et al. Spiritual care in neonatology: analysis of emergency baptisms in an Irish neonatal unit over 15 years. Ir J Med Sci 188, 607–612 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-018-1894-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-018-1894-y