Final answer:
The essential actions for maintaining a newborn's airway and oxygen supply are clearing secretions with a bulb syringe, and ensuring effective respiration, circulation, perfusion, cardiac function, and thermoregulation.
Step-by-step explanation:
After birth, clearing secretions with a bulb syringe and ensuring a clear airway are critical for a newborn's respiratory health. Effective respiration, circulation, perfusion, cardiac function, and thermoregulation are essential to maintain an infant's oxygen supply. It is vital to remove mucus and amniotic fluid from the airways to allow the first breaths to fully inflate the lungs, leading to the dramatic decrease in lung pressure and resistance to blood flow. This reconfiguration of circulation and the immediate task of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange are crucial processes for a newborn. Subsequent steps include resuscitation and intubation, if necessary, application of nasal CPAP, administration of pulmonary surfactant, and supportive therapies like temperature regulation and nutritional support.
Therefore, the correct answer to the question about which actions are essential for newborns' airway maintenance and oxygen supply after birth is B) Clearing secretions with a bulb syringe and maintaining adequate oxygen supply by ensuring clear airway, effective respiration, circulation, perfusion, cardiac function, and thermoregulation.