Reliability of Finnegan scoring
Research type
Research Study
Full title
To assess the reliability and variability of the Finnegan scoring system in the newborn.
IRAS ID
186788
Contact name
Torsten Hildebrandt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Abertawe Bro Morgannwgy University NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
A convenience sample of 90 health professionals will be selected to assess video clips of 2 term babies with NAS (neonatal abstinence syndrome). The babies will be in their first week of life. The videos will be recorded after written and informed consent from parents or legal guardians. There will be one clip from each of the following; a baby with mild NAS (defined as scoring < 8 on the Modified Finnegan scoring tool) and one with severe NAS (defined as scoring >12). Filming will take place at the Princess of Wales Hospital by the local lead investigator. The video clips will be approximately 5 minutes in length and together with a short background history will be shown to different professionals involved in the management of the babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) i.e. paediatric doctors, neonatal nurses and midwives across 3 institutions. They will score these clips and take in to account the history given using the Modified Finnegan Score form.
There are 3 participating hospitals, of which there are two District General Hospitals (Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend and Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil) and a regional tertiary neonatal unit (Singleton Neonatal Unit, Swansea). We aim for 10 professionals from each domain i.e 10 neonatal nurses, 10 paediatric doctors and 10 midwives in each hospital, thereby making a total of 90 professionals. Healthcare professionals will individually score babies after watching the video clips. Baseline scoring of the video clips will be performed by panel of senior medical staff (3 senior paediatric doctors and 3 senior nursing staff). The results will be assessed using statistical analysis to ascertain the reliability and variability of the scoring system. The results will also be compared to the score agreed by the senior medical panel.REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
15/WA/0356
Date of REC Opinion
9 Oct 2015
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion