Use of Telemedicine to Improve Neonatal Resuscitation

Abstract

Most newborn infants do well at birth; however, some require immediate attention by a team with advanced resuscitation skills. Providers at rural or community hospitals do not have as much opportunity for practice of their resuscitation skills as providers at larger centers and are, therefore, often unable to provide the high level of care needed in an emergency. Education through telemedicine can bring additional training opportunities to these rural sites in a low-resource model in order to better prepare them for advanced neonatal resuscitation. Telemedicine also offers the opportunity to immediately bring a more experienced team to newborns to provide support or even lead the resuscitation. Telemedicine can also be used to train and assist in the performance of emergent procedures occasionally required during a neonatal resuscitation including airway management, needle thoracentesis, and umbilical line placement. Telemedicine can provide unique opportunities to significantly increase the quality of neonatal resuscitation and stabilization in rural or community hospitals.

Implementation Barriers in Telesimulation as an Educational Strategy: An Interpretative Description

“…Implementation barriers in face-to-face simulation have been described as the following: physical interaction, human resources (sufficient and trained), materials (specialized facilities, simulators, and specific computer equipment), attitude to the simulation strategy, knowledge and skills of the participants to carry out the scenario, financing, and having evidence of the importance of simulation for education [10,11].…”

Comparison of Two Telemedicine Delivery Modes for Neonatal Resuscitation Support: A Simulation-Based Randomized Trial

“…Telemedicine is a common tool that is increasingly playing a significant role in healthcare delivery [1][2][3][4][5]. It represents a promising solution to bring specialist care to patients and providers in resource-limited areas where DOI: 10.1159/000504853 specialists are not available [6]. A remote specialist can directly provide care to a patient (provider-to-patient telemedicine) [7,8] or support care teams in providing optimal care to their patients (provider-to-provider telemedicine) [1,4].…”

First-step validation of a text message-based application for newborn clinical management among pediatricians

“…Telemedicine has been used for several decades to connect lower cadre health workers in remote areas to specialists far away [ 15 , 16 ]. However, this service requires significant resources to function in a sustainable manner.…”