AIM: Studies have shown that healthcare professionals (HCPs) display a 16-55% error rate in adherence to the Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) algorithm. The aim of this study was to evaluate adherence to the Neonatal Resuscitation Program algorithm by subjects working from memory as compared to subjects using a decision support tool that provides auditory and visual prompts to guide implementation of the Neonatal Resuscitation Program algorithm during simulated neonatal resuscitation.
METHODS: Healthcare professionals (physicians, nurse practitioners, obstetrical/neonatal nurses) with a current NRP card were randomized to the control or intervention group and performed three simulated neonatal resuscitations. The scenarios were evaluated for the initiation and cessation of positive pressure ventilation (PPV) and chest compressions (CC), as well as the frequency of FiO2 adjustment. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare a score measuring the adherence of the control and intervention groups to the Neonatal Resuscitation Program algorithm.
RESULTS: Sixty-five healthcare professionals were recruited and randomized to the control or intervention group. Positive pressure ventilation was performed correctly 55-80% of the time in the control group vs. 94-95% in the intervention group across all three scenarios (p<0.0001). Chest compressions were performed correctly 71-81% of the time in the control group vs. 82-93% in the intervention group in the two scenarios in which they were indicated (p<0.0001). FiO2 was addressed three times more frequently in the intervention group compared to the control group (p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare professionals using a decision support tool exhibit significantly fewer deviations from the Neonatal Resuscitation Program algorithm compared to those working from memory alone during simulated neonatal resuscitation.
OBJECTIVES: High-fidelity simulation is an effective tool in teaching neonatal resuscitation skills to professionals. We aimed to determine whether in situ simulation training (for ∼80% of the delivery room staff) improved neonatal resuscitation performed by the staff at maternities. METHODS: A baseline evaluation of 12 maternities was performed: a random sample of 10 professionals in each unit was presented with 2 standardized scenarios played on a neonatal high-fidelity simulator. The medical procedures were video recorded for later assessments. The 12 maternities were then randomly assigned to receive the intervention (a 4-hour simulation training session delivered in situ for multidisciplinary groups of 6 professionals) or not receive it. All maternities were evaluated again at 3 months after the intervention. The videos were assessed by 2 neonatologists blinded to the pre-/postintervention as well as to the intervention/control groups. The performance was assessed using a technical score and a team score. RESULTS: After intervention, the median technical score was significantly higher for scenarios 1 and 2 for the intervention group compared with the control group (<i>P</i> = .01 and 0.004, respectively), the median team score was significantly higher (<i>P</i> < .001) for both scenarios. In the intervention group, the frequency of achieving a heart rate .90 per minute at 3 minutes improved significantly (<i>P</i> = .003), and the number of hazardous events decreased significantly (<i>P</i> < .001). CONCLUSIONS: In situ simulation training with multidisciplinary teams can effectively improve technical skills and teamwork in neonatal resuscitation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate an intervention package promoting effective neonatal resuscitation training at county level hospitals across China.
METHODS: The intervention package was implemented across 4 counties and included expert seminars, training workshops, establishment of hospital-based resuscitation teams, and supervision of training by national and provincial instructors. Upon completing the activities, a survey was conducted in all county hospitals in the 4 intervention counties and 4 randomly selected control counties. Data on healthcare providers' knowledge and self-confidence, and incidence of deaths from birth asphyxia from 2009 to 2011 in all hospitals were collected and compared between the two groups.
RESULTS: Eleven intervention and eleven control hospitals participated in the evaluation, with 97 and 87 health providers, respectively, completing the questionnaire survey. Over 90% of intervention hospitals had implemented neonatal resuscitation related practice protocols, while in control hospitals the proportion was less than 55%. The average knowledge scores of health providers in the intervention and control counties taking a written exam were 9.2±1.2 and 8.4±1.5, respectively (P<0.001) out of maximum possible score of 10, and the average self-confidence scores were 57.3±2.5 and 54.1±8.2, respectively (P<0.001). Incidence of birth asphyxia (defined as 1-min Apgar score≤7) decreased from 8.8% to 6.0% (P<0.001) in the intervention counties, and asphyxia-related deaths in the delivery room decreased from 27.6 to 5.0 per 100,000 (P=0.076). There was no difference over time in asphyxia rates for the control counties.
CONCLUSIONS: The intervention has not only improved skills of health providers, decreased the mortality and morbidity of birth asphyxia, but also resulted in effective implementation of guidelines and protocols within hospitals.
OBJECTIVE:The Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) has transitioned to a simulation-based format. We hypothesized that immersive simulation differentially impacts similar trainee populations' resuscitation knowledge, procedural skill and teamwork behavior.STUDY DESIGN:Residents from NICU and non-NICU programs were randomized to either control or a booster simulation 7 to 10 months after NRP. Procedural skill and teamwork behavior instruments were validated. Individual resident's resuscitation performance was assessed at 15 to 18 months. Three reviewers rated videos.Result:Fifty residents were assessed. Inter-rater reliability was good for procedural skills (0.78) and team behavior (0.74) instruments. The intervention group demonstrated better procedural skills (71.6 versus 64.4) and teamwork behaviors (18.8 versus 16.2). The NICU program demonstrated better teamwork behaviors (18.6 versus 15.5) compared with non-NICU program.CONCLUSION:A simulation-enhanced booster session 9 months after NRP differentiates procedural skill and teamwork behavior at 15 months. Deliberate practice with simulation enhances teamwork behaviors additively with residents' clinical resuscitation exposure.
OBJECTIVES: The objective was to determine if a medical simulation-based neonatal resuscitation educational intervention is a more effective teaching method than the current emergency medicine (EM) curriculum at one 4-year EM residency program.
METHODS: A prospective, randomized study of second-, third-, and fourth-year EM residents was performed. Of 36 potential subjects, 27 residents were enrolled. Each resident was assessed at baseline and after the intervention using 1) a questionnaire to evaluate confidence in leading adult, pediatric, and neonatal resuscitation and prior neonatal resuscitation experience and 2) a neonatal resuscitation simulation scenario in which each participant was the code leader to evaluate knowledge and skills. Assessments were digitally recorded and reviewed independently by two Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) instructors using a validated neonatal resuscitation scoring tool. Controls (15 participants) received the current EM curriculum. The intervention group (12 participants) experienced an educational session, which incorporated didactics, skills station, and medical simulation about neonatal resuscitation. Outcomes measured included changes in overall neonatal resuscitation score, number of critical actions, time to initial steps of neonatal resuscitation, and changes in confidence level leading neonatal resuscitation.
RESULTS: Baseline neonatal resuscitation scores were similar for the control and intervention groups. At the final assessment, the intervention group's neonatal resuscitation score improved (p = 0.016) and the control group's score did not. The intervention group performed 2.31 more critical actions overall and the time to achieve warming (p = 0.0002), drying (p < 0.0001), tactile stimulation (p = 0.002), and placing a hat on the patient (p <0.0001) were also improved compared to controls. At the baseline assessment, 80% of the control group and 75% of the intervention group reported being "not at all confident" in leading neonatal resuscitation. At the final assessment, the proportion of residents who were "not at all confident" leading neonatal resuscitation decreased to 35% in the intervention group compared to 67% of the control group. The majority of the intervention group (65%) reported an increased level of confidence in leading neonatal resuscitation.
CONCLUSIONS: Medical simulation can be an effective tool to assess the knowledge and skills of EM residents in neonatal resuscitation. Our simulation-based educational intervention significantly improved EM residents' knowledge and performance of the critical initial steps in neonatal resuscitation. A medical simulation-based educational intervention may be used to improve EM residents' knowledge and performance with neonatal resuscitation.
OBJECTIVE: To reduce maternal and neonatal death at a large regional hospital through the use of quality improvement methodologies.
METHODS: In 2007, Kybele and the Ghana Health Service formed a partnership to analyze systems and patient care processes at a regional hospital in Accra, Ghana. A model encompassing continuous assessment, implementation, advocacy, outputs, and outcomes was designed. Key areas for improvement were grouped into "bundles" based on personnel, systems management, and service quality. Primary outcomes included maternal and perinatal mortality, and case fatality rates for hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders. Implementation and outcomes were evaluated tri-annually between 2007 and 2009.
RESULTS: During the study period, there was a 34% decrease in maternal mortality despite a 36% increase in patient admission. Case fatality rates for pre-eclampsia and hemorrhage decreased from 3.1% to 1.1% (P<0.05) and from 14.8% to 1.9% (P<0.001), respectively. Stillbirths were reduced by 36% (P<0.05). Overall, the maternal mortality ratio decreased from 496 per 100000 live births in 2007 to 328 per 100,000 in 2009.
CONCLUSION: Maternal and newborn mortality were reduced in a low-resource setting when appropriate models for continuous quality improvement were developed and employed.
OBJECTIVE: To describe a primary health care model designed specifically for Guatemala that has been implemented in two demonstration sites since 2004 and present results of a process evaluation of utilization, service coverage, and quality of care from 2005 to 2009.
METHODS: Coverage, utilization, and quality were assessed by using an automated database linking census and clinical records and were reported over time. Key maternal and child health coverage measures were compared with national-level measures.
RESULTS: The postnatal coverage achieved by the Modelo Incluyente de Salud of nearly 100.0% at both sites contrasts with the national average of 25.6%. Vaccination coverage for children aged 12-23 months in the Modelo Incluyente de Salud reached 95.6% at site 1 (Bocacosta, Sololá) and 92.7% at site 2 (San Juan Ostuncalco), compared with the national average of 71.2%. Adherence to national treatment guidelines increased significantly at both sites with a marked increase between 2006 and 2007. Utilization increased significantly at both sites, with only 7.5% of families at site 1 and 11.2% of families at site 2 not using services by the end of the 5-year period.
CONCLUSIONS: Coverage, quality of care, and utilization measures increased significantly during the 5-year period when the service delivery model was implemented. This finding suggests a strong possibility that the model may have a benefit for health outcomes as well as for process measures. The Modelo Incluyente de Salud will be financially sustained by the Ministry of Health and extended to at least three additional sites. The model provides important lessons for primary care programs internationally.
OBJECTIVE: to conduct and describe results from a process evaluation of home-based life saving skills (HBLSS) one year post-implementation.
DESIGN: a non-experimental, descriptive design was utilised employing both qualitative and quantitative techniques for data collection including: (1) key informant interviews, (2) group discussions, (3) performance testing, and (4) review of programme data.
SETTING: rural Matlab, Bangladesh in the sub-district of Chandpur.
PARTICIPANTS: 41 community health research workers (CHRW), five pregnant women, 14 support persons and four programme co-ordinators.
INTERVENTION: HBLSS is a family-centred approach to improving recognition of and referral for potentially life-threatening maternal and newborn complications. In June 2007, four HBLSS meetings were implemented in Matlab by 41 CHRW with all pregnant women in the study area.
MEASUREMENTS: (1) knowledge retention among CHRW, (2) programme coverage, and (3) strengths and challenges in HBLSS implementation.
FINDINGS: results revealed rapid integration of the programme into the Matlab community with nearly 4500 HBLSS contacts with 2409 pregnant women between 15 June 2007 and 31 March 2008. Over 51% of pregnant women attended all four HBLSS meetings. Knowledge testing of CHRW showed strong retention with an increase in mean scores between immediate post-training and one-year post-training (from 78.7% to 92.7% and from 77.8% to 97.7% for two different HBLSS modules). Strengths of the HBLSS programme include high satisfaction among pregnant women, dedication of CHRW to the community, and strong organisation and supervision by programme staff. Challenges include lack of involvement of men, loss of two master trainers, and limited access to comprehensive emergency obstetric care at some referral sites.
KEY CONCLUSIONS: the HBLSS programme was successfully implemented as a result of the high level of support and supervision by the maternal, newborn and child health staff at ICDDR,B. This evaluation highlights the value of community health workers in the fight against maternal and newborn mortality. Findings emphasise the strength of the HBLSS training approach in transferring knowledge from trainer to HBLSS guide.
In some low-income countries such as Cambodia and Rwanda, experimental performance-based payment systems have led to rapid improvements in access to health care and the quality of that care. Under this type of payment scheme, funders--including foreign governments and international aid programs--subsidize local health care providers for achieving certain benchmarks. The benchmarks can include such measures as child immunizations or childbirth in a health facility. In this article we report the results of a performance-based payment experiment conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is one of the poorest countries in the world and has an extremely high level of child and maternal mortality. We found that providing performance-based subsidies resulted in lower direct payments to health facilities for patients, who received comparable or better services and quality of care than those provided at a control group of facilities that were not financed in this way. The disparity occurred despite the fact that the districts receiving performance-based subsidies received external foreign assistance of approximately $2 per capita per year, compared to the $9-$12 in external assistance received by the control districts. The experiment also revealed that performance-based financing mechanisms can be effective even in a troubled nation such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Studies have shown that healthcare professionals (HCPs) display a 16-55% error rate in adherence to the Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) algorithm. The aim of this study was to evaluate adherence to the Neonatal Resuscitation Program algorithm by subjects working from memory as compared to subjects using a decision support tool that provides auditory and visual prompts to guide implementation of the Neonatal Resuscitation Program algorithm during simulated neonatal resuscitation.
METHODS:
Healthcare professionals (physicians, nurse practitioners, obstetrical/neonatal nurses) with a current NRP card were randomized to the control or intervention group and performed three simulated neonatal resuscitations. The scenarios were evaluated for the initiation and cessation of positive pressure ventilation (PPV) and chest compressions (CC), as well as the frequency of FiO2 adjustment. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare a score measuring the adherence of the control and intervention groups to the Neonatal Resuscitation Program algorithm.
RESULTS:
Sixty-five healthcare professionals were recruited and randomized to the control or intervention group. Positive pressure ventilation was performed correctly 55-80% of the time in the control group vs. 94-95% in the intervention group across all three scenarios (p<0.0001). Chest compressions were performed correctly 71-81% of the time in the control group vs. 82-93% in the intervention group in the two scenarios in which they were indicated (p<0.0001). FiO2 was addressed three times more frequently in the intervention group compared to the control group (p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS:
Healthcare professionals using a decision support tool exhibit significantly fewer deviations from the Neonatal Resuscitation Program algorithm compared to those working from memory alone during simulated neonatal resuscitation.
