Assessing the effectiveness of two neonatal face masks during simulated resuscitation: Study 1

¹ The Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne,Victoria 3053,, Australia
² Royal Women's Hospital, Australia
³ The Royal Women's Hospital, Australia
⁴ Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
⁵ Royal Children's Hospital, Australia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: colin.morley{at}rwh.org.au.

Accepted 14 November 2007

	Abstract

Background: Positive pressure ventilation (PPV) via a face mask is an important skill taught using mannequins. There have been few attempts to assess the effectiveness of different face mask designs.

Aim: To determine whether leak at the face mask during simulated neonatal resuscitation differed between a new round mask design and the current most widely used model.

Method: Fifty participants gave PPV to a modified mannequin designed to measure leak at the face mask. Leak was calculated from the difference between the inspired and expired tidal volumes.

Results: Mask leak varied widely with no significant difference between devices; mean (SD) percentage leak for the Laerdal round mask was 55% (31) and Fisher & Paykel mask was 57% (25).

Conclusion: We compared a new neonatal face mask with an established design and found no difference in leak. On average the mask leak was >50% irrespective of operator experience or technique.

Keywords: face mask, neonate, newborn, resuscitation, ventilation

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. J Morley and P. G Davis Advances in neonatal resuscitation: supporting transition Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed., September 1, 2008; 93(5): F334 - F336. [Full Text] [PDF]

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