HBB Prompt: An Audio-Visual Prompting and Voice Responsive Mobile Application for Newborn Resuscitation Training

Birth asphyxia causes up to 1.8 million newborn deaths and stillbirths every year. This global tragedy can be prevented by effectively Helping Babies Breathe at the time of birth. Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) has been shown to reduce newborn mortality by up to 47%. Such mortality impact is however not sustained due to rapid skills deterioration. We propose to improve sustainability of HBB’s impact by increasing skills retention with an innovative mobile application called HBB Prompt. HBB Prompt is an interactive tool that guides frontline providers through the steps needed to save newborn babies at birth. HBB Prompt will facilitate individual and group training in health facilities using the Low Dose High Frequency model (LDHF) for resuscitation skills retention. Our group has successfully developed and tested a related application for the Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP). We will use lessons learned from our NRP Prompt app to robustly develop HBB Prompt by integrating human factors and user-centered design approaches. We will engage end-users and HBB Master Trainers to iteratively collect feedback to develop HBB Prompt for both individual and small group resuscitation practice. Our iterative approach will mitigate the common scenario of mHealth solutions unable to achieve sustained success at scale due to lack of comprehensive input from frontline users. We will pilot the app at a single centre and compare it to a control site for HBB skills and perinatal morbidity.