Development of Multimodal Training Tool for Preterm Infant Care

Comprehensive packages for training healthcare professionals who care for premature newborns are scarce. AIIMS WHO CC, New Delhi, partnered with India Association of Neonatal Nurses (IANN) and National Neonatology Forum (NNF) and 35 national leaders in the field of newborn care to develop a multimodal educational package for preterm infants.

Findings from evaluation of four representative special newborn care units in the state of Madhya Pradesh informed the content of the package. Each of the ten modules developed had pre-defined lesson plan with learning objectives, self-reading text, short videos, webinars, posters and job aids, and knowledge check. The entire package was converted into a printed format, loaded onto a self-directed, web-based E-learning platform, and made available as a smart phone app. Six 3-day back-to-back dissemination workshops were held for 208 participants, who completed designated E-modules and generated a completion certificate before attending the face-to-face workshop. A five-point Likert's scale and open-ended comments were used to assess users' satisfaction with the modules, and the quality and readability of materials.

Of the total, 188/208 (90%) attendees provided dissemination workshop feedback. When asked to rate their proficiency, 34% rated themselves as 'proficient or expert' before the workshop while 92% afterwards. Nearly 80% of participants felt that the quality of the information, content organization, and case scenarios were excellent to exceptional.

The "preterm baby package" is a comprehensive, acceptable, need-based educational package for training staff who manage small and sick newborns with local facilitators for Indian context. There is a need of implementation studies evaluating its efficacy in improving newborn outcomes.