Provider Readiness for Neonatal Resuscitation in Rural Hospitals

Objective To describe nurse and physician readiness for neonatal resuscitation in rural hospitals. Design Descriptive, correlational, and comparative. Setting Twenty-six rural hospitals in two Midwestern states. Participants Rural providers of care to newborns (165 nurses and 59 physicians). Instruments Neonatal Resuscitation Index (knowledge about neonatal resuscitation) and Neonatal Resuscitation Experience Index (comfort and recent skill performance). Results The average Neonatal Resuscitation Index (knowledge) score of 69% was low. Many skills needed for full resuscitation had not been performed by rural providers during the previous year. Nurses reported lower levels of comfort with skills needed for full resuscitation (t=-4.68; p <.01). Correlation between frequency of skill performance and comfort was higher for nurses than physicians (r=.50 vs. .34). Nurses who were current Neonatal Resuscitation Program providers had significantly higher average levels of comfort (3.67 vs. 3.11; p <.01), knowledge (72.18 vs. 60.71; p <.01), and recent experience (0.94 vs. 0.51; p <.01) with resuscitation skills than nurses who were not current Neonatal Resuscitation Program providers. Conclusions Maintaining high levels of readiness for neonatal resuscitation in rural hospitals is challenging. Nurses and physicians should make special effort to obtain continuing neonatal resuscitation education to ensure optimal outcomes when newborn emergencies arise in rural hospitals. Teamwork training for neonatal resuscitation readiness is an important topic for future rural health research.