Retention of Knowledge and Skill of Birth Attendants in Newborn Care and Resuscitation after 1 Year in Clinical Practice: An Experience from India

Background: In India, 18%-20% of newborn deaths are attributed to perinatal asphyxia. Effective resuscitation at birth can prevent neonatal mortality and improve the chances of intact survival. The information about sustainability and retention of gained resuscitation knowledge and skill in India is limited. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the retention of newborn care and resuscitation knowledge and skill of birth attendants at public health facilities after 1 year of clinical practice at the health facilities within Public Health System in India. Methods: In three districts of Uttar Pradesh, knowledge and skill status of 168 birth attendants (54 doctors and 114 nurses) were documented at pre-and posttraining and after 1 year. Results: There was a marked improvement in knowledge scores (doctors: 42%-85% and nurses: 35%-86%) and skill scores (doctors: 15%-89% and nurses: 15%-90%) after training. There was significant retention of knowledge (doctors 58% and nurses 52%) and skill (doctors 82% and nurses 79%) after 1 year, although there was knowledge-skill gap observed after 1 year. Conclusion: The improvement and retention of skill and knowledge among the birth attendants were encouraging. The differential retention of skill and knowledge may be due to the training methodology and opportunity for skill refresher through the skill laboratories.