A Wireless Text Messaging System Improves Communication for Neonatal Resuscitation

Area of Science:

• Neonatal Medicine
• Healthcare Communication
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Effective communication of critical delivery information (CDI) is vital during neonatal resuscitation.
• Current handoff methods may have suboptimal communication rates for essential CDI.

Purpose of the Study:

• To achieve ≥95% communication of CDI during resuscitation team requests.
• To evaluate the impact of different communication interventions on CDI transmission.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of three interventions: verbal scripted handoff, Spök text messaging, and Engage text messaging.
• Analysis of CDI communication percentages using statistical process control.
• CDI included caller name, urgency, location, fetal gestation, amniotic fluid status, and team indication.

Main Results:

• The Engage text messaging system achieved ≥95% communication for all CDI except indication (93%).
• Engage demonstrated narrower control limits, indicating more reliable communication than verbal or Spök methods.
• Delayed resuscitation team arrival was not increased with text messaging compared to verbal handoff.

Conclusions:

• Text messaging, particularly the Engage system, significantly enhances communication reliability during neonatal resuscitation.
• This technology offers a promising tool for improving patient safety in high-risk delivery settings.
• Further adoption of text messaging systems may benefit other healthcare delivery centers.