Assessment of transportability of a perinatal education program

We evaluated a perinatal outreach education program to determine its "transportability" (usefulness to other regional centers). Three kinds of data were available from seven regional centers: (1) participation in the program by health care providers, (2) changes in cognitive knowledge, and (3) changes in neonatal care practices. Data were obtained from 2,735 program participants and from retrospective chart review of 2,781 at-risk babies born in participating hospitals. Analysis showed that results were comparable when the program was used by six regional centers from two states and when it was used by the regional center that originally developed the program. We therefore concluded that the Perinatal Continuing Education Program is transportable.