Evaluation of Helping Babies Breathe Quality Improvement Cycle (HBB-QIC) on retention of neonatal resuscitation skills six months after training in Nepal

• Background: Each year 700,000 infants die due to intrapartum-related complications. Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) uses an algorithm to increase knowledge and improve skills on neonatal resuscitation. Implementation of HBB in low-resource clinical settings has shown to reduce intrapartum stillbirths and first-day neonatal mortality. However, there is a lack of evidence on the effect of different HBB implementation strategies to improve and sustain the clinical competency of health workers on bag-and-mask ventilation. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of multi-faceted implementation strategy for HBB as quality improvement cycle (HBB-QIC) on retention of neonatal resuscitation skills in a tertiary hospital of Nepal.Methods: A Time series design was applied. The multi-faceted intervention for HBB-QIC included training, daily bag-and-mask skill checks, preparation for resuscitation before every birth, self-evaluation and peer review on neonatal resuscitation skills and weekly review meetings. Knowledge and skills were assessed through questionnaires, skill checklists, and Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) before implementation of the HBB-QIC, immediately after HBB training, and again at six months. Means were compared using paired t-tests, and associations between skill retention and HBB-QIC components were analyzed using logistic regression analysis.Results: 137 health workers were enrolled in the study. Knowledge scores were higher immediately following the HBB training, 16.4  1.4 compared to 12.8  1.6 before (out of 17), and the knowledge was retained six months after the training (16.5  1.1). Bag-and-mask skills improved immediately after the training and were retained six months after the training. The retention of bag-and-mask skills was associated with daily bag-and-mask skill checks, preparation for resuscitation before every birth, use of a self-evaluation checklist, and attendance at weekly review meetings. The implementation strategies with the highest association to skill retention were daily bag-and-mask skill checks (RR-5.1, 95% CI 1.9-13.5) and use of self-evaluation checklists after every delivery (RR-3.8, 95% CI 1.4-9.7).Conclusions: Health workers who practiced bag-and-mask skills, prepared for resuscitation before every birth, used self-evaluation checklists and attended weekly review meetings retained their neonatal resuscitation skills. Further studies are required to evaluate HBB-QIC in primary care settings, where the number of deliveries is gradually increasing.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Neonatal resuscitation

Helping Babies Breathe

retention of skills

multi-faceted implementation strategy

quality improvement cycle

Nepal

International Health

Internationell hälsa

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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