Scaling up Safer Birth Bundle Through Quality Improvement in Nepal (SUSTAIN)

Background

The Hospital level training on Helping Babies Survive (HBS) as part of (SUSTAIN) Scaling Up Safer Birth Bundle Through Quality Improvement in Nepal is conducted in a step wedge pattern in the implementing hospitals. Helping Babies Survive (HBS) is a training package developed in reference to AAP manuals under the leadership of National Health Training Centre and in collaboration with Nepal Pediatric Society. Local facilitators were developed in each hospital through HBS Training of Trainers followed by hospital level on-job training to all the staffs involved in intrapartum care and intensive care as well.

The HBS training is a four-day package which has been developed to capacitate healthcare workers who will later be in the direct contact with the maternal and newborn care in the hospitals. The HBS training package in the hospitals aim at improving neonatal care service delivery, providing quality of care, outcomes, and contribute in reducing neonatal morbidity and mortality in the hospitals. The manual comprises of following modules-

• Essential Care of Every Babies
• Essential Care of Small Babies
• HBB(2nd edition)
• Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA)

Rationale

The on-site training is a crucial part in developing skilled health workers who will be in the forefront, providing maternal and neonatal quality care services, implementing key quality improvement (QI) interventions within the hospitals. Invited from different maternal and neonatal care units from within the hospitals, they will be key to implementing the changes, working closely with the colleagues and hospital management.

Objectives

• To train health workers on standard newborn care practice within 24-hour after birth to prevent various neonatal morbidities including neonatal sepsis.
• To train health workers on providing essential care for small babies to reduce the mortality due to complications arising from prematurity.
• To train health workers on timely and effective resuscitation at birth to reduce first day death and prevent adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in future.
• To train health workers on finding solutions to manageable problems resulting in poor quality of intrapartum care through PDSA meeting, a QI tool.

Date and Venue

A 4-day Hospital-level HBS training was conducted in three batches at Seti Hospital, Dhangadhi starting from November 26 to December 6, 2019 respectively.

Participants

There were altogether 66 participants in the hospital level HBS Training. The participants included Medical Officers, Nursing in-charges of maternity and sick newborn care units and staff nurses working in these units.