Neonatal Resuscitation at a privately owned tertiary hospital in Nigeria: Knowledge gap among Health workers and need for sustenance

Abstract

Objective: Neonatal resuscitation has evolved over the last three decades from word of mouth teachings to organised methods. Resuscitation efforts are geared towards mitigating the adverse sequalae of perinatal asphyxia. To evaluate the cognitive knowledge of health workers primarily involved in care of newborn on neonatal resuscitation and document the effects neonatal resuscitation training course have on improving the knowledge of health workers.
 Method: Standardized pre-test and post-test as used by American Academy of Pediatrics and American Heart Association (AAP/AHA) were administered to the health workers who participated in the neonatal resuscitation training course. Nurses and doctors were from three key departments- Paediatrics, Anaesthesia and, Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The pass mark was set at a cut-off score of ≥ 70%. 
 Results: Thirty health workers participated in the neonatal resuscitation course. 70% of them were nurses while 30% were doctors. 70% of the participants were from the department of paediatrics while participants from Anaesthesia and Obstetrics and Gynaecology accounted for 16.7% and 13.3% respectively. The mean pre-test and post-test scores among all participants were 40.65±18.05 and 68.00±16.36 respectively (p< 0.001). Participants from paediatrics performed better than other specialties (p <0.001).
 Conclusion: There is an obvious knowledge gap among health workers directly involved in the care of the new born. Neonatal resuscitation training coursesand regular retraining can bridge this gap in knowledge.