Does the Helping Babies Breathe Program impact on neonatal resuscitation care practices? Results from systematic review & meta-analysis.

AIM: This paper examines the change in neonatal resuscitation practices after the implementation of the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) program.

METHODS: A systematic review was carried out on studies reporting the impact of HBB programs among the literature found in Medline, POPLINE, LILACS, African Index Medicus, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Region database. We selected clinical trials with randomized control, quasi-experimental and cross-sectional designs. We used a data extraction tool to extract information on intervention and outcome reporting. We carried out a meta-analysis of the extracted data on the neonatal resuscitation practices following HBB program using Review Manager.

RESULTS: Four studies that reported on neonatal resuscitation practices before and after the implementation of the HBB program were identified. The pooled results showed no changes in the use of stimulation (RR-0.54; 95% CI, 0.21-1.42), suctioning (RR-0.48; 95% CI, 0.18-1.27) and bag and mask ventilation (RR-0.93; 95% CI, 0.47-1.83) after HBB training. The proportion of babies receiving bag and mask ventilation within the Golden Minute of birth increased by more than 2.5 times (RR-2.67; 95% CI, 2.17-3.28).

CONCLUSION: The bag-and-mask ventilation within Golden minute has improved following the HBB program. Implementation of HBB training improves timely initiation of bag-and-mask ventilation within 1 minute of birth. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.