NoviGuide Software Improves Nurses Knowledge and Confidence in Treating Newborns, UCSF/Global Strategies study finds

February 22, 2021
Albany, CA
  • Dr. Mary Muhindo
    Interviewee
  • Sabrina Smith
    Author

2.5 million newborns die in the first 28-days of life every year. To provide high-quality, potentially life-saving newborn care, we must rapidly train more global healthcare workers to deliver high-quality care. 

In a paper published this month in JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, the University of California San Francisco Preterm Birth Initiative and Global Strategies suggest that NoviGuide, a clinical decision support software designed by Global Strategies, has the potential to improve newborn healthcare in rural Uganda. Researchers, led by principal investigator Dr. Mary Muhindo, examined whether NoviGuide – which helps healthcare workers recognize and address common newborn conditions including prematurity, infection, respiratory distress and HIV exposure – could be seamlessly integrated into the labor and delivery ward of a busy Ugandan district hospital. 

The study followed 19 nurse-midwives providing newborn care at Tororo District Hospital in Eastern Uganda. In rural Uganda, midwives are the sole newborn care providers, but they are understaffed, have high turnover and often lack newborn care skills. Under the direction of Dr. Muhindo, nurses and midwives primarily trained in the care of pregnant women and deliveries used NoviGuide to guide their care of newborns. After a brief training, the nurses were given access to NoviGuide on tablets and encouraged to use it in their newborn treatment.  

Sr. Beatrice Musungu attending to newborn admitted on the neonatal unit in Tororo General Hospital (Photo: NoviGuide Archives)
Noviguide (Photo: NoviGuide Archives)

Over a 12 month period, the midwives used NoviGuide frequently and consistently, completing 1,412 comprehensive assessments. Midwives reported very high levels of satisfaction with the software. All participants in the study strongly agreed that NoviGuide improved newborn care delivery and reduced mistakes in newborn care.  

Dr. Mary Muhindo (Photo: NoviGuide Archives)
“In rural Uganda, where I work, midwives are the sole newborn care providers and yet they are understaffed, have high turnover and lack newborn care skills,” says Dr. Muhindo. “In our study, we observed midwives using NoviGuide seamlessly during their daily care of newborns reporting that NoviGuide simplified their work, saved time and prevented mistakes. The midwives provided timely and appropriate care and their knowledge and confidence improved simply by using NoviGuide. I believe NoviGuide has the potential to improve facility-based care of newborns in settings like mine.”

Following these encouraging results, researchers are now evaluating how to expand the use of NoviGuide using  local trainers.

For the full paper in JMIR mHealth and uHealth:

Implementation of a Newborn Clinical Decision Support Software (NoviGuide) in a Rural District Hospital in Eastern Uganda: Feasibility and Acceptability Study

Global Strategies’ specific approach combines research and setting up new services especially in working with children in neonatology. We are not only doing the clinical work but also the research.
Dr. William Bonane, Program Manager at HEAL Africa

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