Keywords

Helping Babies Breathe, neonatal mortality, neonatal resuscitation, Fiji, educational settings, nursing faculty

Abstract

Background: Approximately 2.5 million neonates died world-wide in 2018, with the majority dying in limited-resource countries. Over one-quarter of all neonatal deaths are caused by birth asphyxia, failure to breathe and maintain breathing after birth. To address the number of mostly preventable neonatal deaths due to birth asphyxia, Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) was created to teach basic neonatal resuscitation steps to health care workers in limited-resource settings. For this project, HBB training classes were held for faculty and nursing students at the Sangam College of Nursing in Labasa, Fiji.

Methods: Fifteen faculty members and 102 nursing students from the Sangam College of Nursing attended one of three classes taught by three HBB master trainers. Each participant completed a pre and posttest, bag and mask ventilation skills check, and Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) A and/or OSCE B. Nine nursing students from Brigham Young University College of Nursing were trained in HBB before arriving in Fiji and assisted with two classes held for Fijian nursing students. Posttest data were analyzed for increases in knowledge for overall scores and individual questions by counting the number of correct answers to questions.

Results: Immediate improvements in knowledge for Fijian faculty and students were manifested by a significant increase in the number of correct responses in 13 of the 18 questions on the posttest. Two questions showed only minimal increases due to a majority of participants choosing the correct answer on the pretest. One question revealed no change, and one revealed a decrease in the number of correct answers on the posttest.

Conclusion: HBB is an effective program for limited-resource countries for increasing immediate provider knowledge and skills in neonatal resuscitation. Implementing HBB in an academic setting may help ensure educators are up to date on current guidelines. Educational settings provide ideal locations for future nurses to learn and practice evidence-based neonatal resuscitation skills.