Program Overview

What is the aim of the NeoResus program?

The NeoResus program is a specialised training program that has been designed to standardise the way in which Australian healthcare professionals are trained in newborn resuscitation. The overall aim is to provide program participants with assessment, intervention, and crisis resource management skills which are evidence based and transferable between health services and healthcare providers.

What programs are available?

We offer three face-to-face programs: First Response, Advanced Resuscitation and Facilitator workshops.  These programs are tailored for staff with different training needs and offer participants the opportunity to learn in a collegial and interactive environment, supported by a team of experienced NeoResus Facilitators.

First Response covers the initial assessment and care of the newborn infant undergoing transition to extrauterine life and provides the participant with the opportunity to gain confidence and competence in:

  • The initial steps of assessment of the newborn infant
  • Determining if the infant requires assistance to establish and maintain effective breathing
  • Assisting the infant to breathe using a variety of positive pressure ventilation devices
  • Providing external chest compressions if effective positive pressure ventilation fails to restore an adequate heart rate and circulation.

Advanced Resuscitation prepares the participants for ongoing resuscitation of a newborn in whom First Response interventions have failed to achieve spontaneous breathing and adequate cardiac output and circulation. Participants are provided with the opportunity to gain confidence and competence in:

  • Endotracheal intubation and endotracheal tube strapping
  • The administration of drugs to improve cardiac output and contractility
  • Insertion of an umbilical venous catheter or intraosseous needle to establish vascular access
  • Administration of volume expanders including blood products and 0.9% sodium chloride to treat hypovolaemia and shock

Attendance at a First Response program is not a prerequisite for attending this program, as all components of the First Response program are included. 

Facilitator Workshops are designed for healthcare professionals who provide neonatal resuscitation training and/or assessment in their workplace. We offer First Response and Advanced Resuscitation Facilitator workshops. These workshops are especially designed for those planning to deliver, or already delivering NeoResus programs. Eligibility criteria and pre-requisites for each workshop apply.

We also offer a self-directed, online neoResus e-Learning module, which can be completed as a stand-alone product, or as part of a face-to-face program.

What are the NeoResus Program components?

The NeoResus program comprises one online e-Learning module and four web-based learning modules.

  • NeoResus e-Learning module (online)
  • Module 1: Key concepts and guidelines (web-based)
  • Module 2: First Response
  • Module 3: Advanced Resuscitation
  • Module 4: Post resuscitation care (web-based)

The NeoResus e-Learning module is completed online by all program participants prior to attending a face-to-face program.

Modules 1 and 4 are web-based learning modules which are completed by all program participants.

Modules 2 and 3 are skills-based, teamwork focused, multidisciplinary “hands on” training modules.

Why is there such an emphasis on First Response training?

The vast majority of newborn infants will make the transition from intra-uterine to extra-uterine life successfully, and will not require any assistance to establish effective respirations after birth. Only a small minority of newborns (approximately 6% of babies born in Australian hospitals) will require gentle assistance to make the transition from placental gas exchange to pulmonary gas exchange.

Less than 1% of Australian newborns will require resuscitation interventions such as intubation and external chest compressions at the time of their birth. In many birth settings throughout Australia, a person with the expertise to perform such procedures may not be immediately available at the time of birth. With this in mind, the ability of the attending birth team to initiate First Response assessment and interventions are seen as most critical and therefore the core focus of the NeoResus program.

Who should attend a NeoResus training program?

Any health care professional who would normally or could potentially attend the birth of a baby should undertake First Response training. Such professionals include:

  • Midwives (in hospital based and independent practice)
  • Neonatal Nurses
  • Registered Nurses
  • Mothercraft nurses
  • G.P Obstetricians
  • Obstetricians
  • Paediatricians
  • Anaesthetists
  • Emergency Department medical staff
  • Paramedics
  • Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers

Advanced Resuscitation is typically undertaken by perinatal healthcare professionals whose role necessitates that they have advanced neonatal resuscitation skills. Such healthcare professionals may include (but are not limited to) medical, senior nursing, senior midwifery and paramedic staff.