Neonatal resuscitation programme in Malaysia: an eight-year experience

The neonatal resuscitation programme (NRP) published by the American Academy of Paediatrics and American Heart Association was launched in Malaysia in 1996. This study aimed to review the outcome of NRP in Malaysia during the first eight years.

Information on basic demographical data and training activities of NRP providers were collected prospectively from NRP instructors from all over Malaysia during the eight years following the inception of the NRP. The national perinatal and neonatal mortality data during the five-year period before and eight years following implementation of the NRP were compared.

During the eight years following the launch, 14,575 personnel were trained. 40 percent of NRP-certified personnel worked in areas where delivery services were provided, viz. labour room, operation theatre, obstetric ward, emergency department and maternal and child health clinic. There were very few NRP-certified providers working in emergency departments and most of them were medical assistants. Most of the providers working in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and labour rooms were nurses while those in paediatric wards were doctors. All NRP-certified doctors working in NICUs and labour rooms obtained full certificates. Only 80 percent of NRP-certified nurses in these two areas obtained full certificates. There was further serial decrease in perinatal mortality and neonatal mortality rates in Malaysia during the years following the launch of the NRP programme.

The launch of the Malaysian NRP was associated with further improvement in perinatal and neonatal mortality rates.