An investigation into resuscitation council UK (RC UK) neonatal life support (NLS) course outcomes

Most newborns transition to extrauterine life without assistance. However, the World Health Organization reports that approximately 10 % of all newborns require some intervention at birth and estimate that .5 % will require cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In some instances, the obstetric and maternal history can inform the anticipation for resuscitation, but this is not always the case. Therefore, it is essential that health professional staff attending births are competent in resuscitation techniques of the infant. Initial skills are acquired during pre-registration education programmes and once registered, a health professional should undertake regular training to maintain their knowledge and skill. In the United Kingdom, the Newborn Life Support (NLS) course provides nationally recognised education accredited by the Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK). The number of NLS courses is dependent on the availability and goodwill of a multidisciplinary faculty. Anecdotally, the authors noticed that there was a smaller pool of nurse and midwife instructors to call upon when assembling NLS faculties. With the assistance of the RCUK, a retrospective audit was undertaken to investigate whether a difference in pass and instructor potential recommendation rates between professional groups could inform the debate. This audit identified a significant difference between medical practitioner and non-medical practitioner pass rates (94.7 % v 86.2 %, p < 0.01) and instructor potential recommendation rates (20.0 % v 11.8 %, p < 0.01), favouring medical practitioner candidates. The reasons for this difference are complex and not fully understood, though difference in pre-registration learning, career trajectory and support could explain some of the discrepancy. There needs to be further investigation to better understand the underlying reasons, and discussion on how this gap can be minimised or eliminated.