Our mentorship team is a combination of neonatologists, fellows, and neonatal nurse practitioners experienced in various global health projects and sites. We are working within the Section on Neonatal Perinatal Medicine in the American Academy of Pediatrics, and in Sierra Leone, Partners in Health, is helping to organize our virtual mentoring sessions as well as in person workshop. The team in Sierra Leone is at Koidu Government Hospital, which has a large referral NICU. Our educational project is called “Born to Thrive: Neonatal Training for Healthy Newborns in Sierra Leone.
For the 12 months, our mentorship team has developed an educational Neonatal Care curriculum for nurses and medical officers with a focus on care in developing countries, and have virtually taught this curriculum over the past 6 months with weekly sessions. Having imparted the theoretical knowledge, we now aim to travel in person to this hospital so that we may train the staff in life saving procedures such as neonatal resuscitation, bag mask ventilation, central umbilical line catheterization, newborn thermoregulation etc. Being able to teach these skills in person, while allowing real time practice and questions to be asked will have a lasting impact. This will make an invaluable difference to the quality of care being provided to neonates currently in Sierra Leone and will continue to impact future nurses and doctors caring for small and sick newborns in this region of Sierra Leone.
The population benefitting from this curriculum and skills workshops are two fold. First, nurses, medical officers, midwives, and doctors staffing a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) will be given a chance to increase their practical knowledge and hands-on skills for their patients. The staff caring for the NICU patients are the first responders at deliveries and will be the care providers with the most impact in caring for these vulnerable preterm infants. As trained nurses and medical officers, they have the foundational knowledge that just needs continued training and education to empower and train their other rising colleagues.
Second, and most importantly, the premature and sick full term newborn infants admitted to this NICU will ultimately benefit from less morbidity and mortality. Additionally, the staff in the NICU at Koidu Government Hospital serve as mentors for community sites and district hospitals. They are able to provide education and reciprocal feedback for care at their referring sites. Thus improving the care of small and sick newborns in this region is the ultimate goal.
This training will empower and train current Neonatal physicians, midwives, and nurses in Sierra Leone at Koidu Government Hospital so that they may build their knowledge and skills they have acquired through our virtual curriculum, and in-person workshop. Training materials are engaging and intended for use across multiple disciplines of care. A repository of videos, handouts, and recorded lectures have been made for easy reference and review.
In addition, there will be a new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) opening in July 2025 at Koidu Government Hospital, and those already trained will subsequently cascade the knowledge and training to other healthcare workers to improve overall newborn care in Sierra Leone. The larger impact would be an overall reduction in neonatal and infant mortality.
