The Newborn Care Charts provide a stepwise guide to the routine assessment and care of health and sick and small newborns from birth to discharge from the facility. The charts were adopted by the Nationa Department of Health for use in district hospitals, health centres and MOU’s.
Newborn Care Charts
Routine Care at Birth and Management of Sick and Small Newborns in Hopsital. March 2014.
Updated MSSN guidelines - 2021 edition
The Limpopo Department of Health (LDoH) led the development of the 1st edition of the Management of Sick and Small Newborns (MSSN) Guidelines, as part of the Limpopo Initiative for Newborn Care (LINC) package. In 2014, the National Department of Health (NDoH) printed copies of the guidelines for the entire country and used the NDoH logo (2nd edition). The MSSN Guidelines are a critical resource for health care providers working in neonatal units of district, regional and tertiary hospitals. However, they were slightly outdated. The LDoH, through the leadership of Dr Anne Robertson and the Pietersburg-Mankweng Tertiary Hospital Complex Newborn Champions (paediatricians) and technical support of the University of Limpopo Trust (ULT), have updated the MSSN Guidelines to align with the latest developments in the care of newborns and ensure that the guidelines remain responsive to the population needs and health system of the province.
ENC Quality improvement toolkit
A group of local and visiting experts have combined their experience to develop norms and standards for newborn care and a suggested approach to the improvement process at district level. The tools will assist managers and clinicians to improve the quality of newborn care.
Chapter 1. Introduction to Essential Newborn Care
Chapter 2. Norms and Standards for Essential Newborn Care
Appendix 2.1. Summary of norms and standards for newborn care
Appendix 2.2 Equipment specifications
Chapter 3. Implementing Essential Newborn Care
Appendix 3.1 Situation Assessment Tool for Hospitals
Appendix 3.2 Situation Assessment Tools for Districts and Provinces
LINC Training
MSSN trainee modules
The Management of Sick and Small Newborn charts and trainee manual provide an approach to the assessment, classification and management of sick and small in district hospital. The training manuals are intended for in-service training of health care workers who already have basic training in midwifery or medicine. The material can be adapted for pre-service training, and self-study. The course is usually run over 1 week and includes clinical sessions.
MSSN Course Director and Facilitator Material
MSSN Course director and facilitator material includes the facilitator and course director guides used to train facilitators as well as the MSSN faciltator Manual and MSSN facilitator manual for clinical practice that provide lesson plans and a step by step guide to planning and conducting training.
Neonatal Transition and Neonatal Resuscitation
This training course is for doctors, midwives and clinical associates working in district and regional hospitals in South Africa. The course covers the immediate care of the newborn during transition in the delivery room as well as all neonatal resuscitation prior to the transfer of both mother and baby to the postnatal or neonatal ward. The course is complimentary to the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) course, a course developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and partners. The course follows the same steps as HBB, but includes additional background information, pathophysiology, advanced resuscitation and the immediate post resuscitation care of all newborns.
The course consists of 4 modules each incorporating reading, chart reviews, videos, self-assessment questions and tasks. It was initially hosted on the Blackboard Learn platform of the University of Limpopo, but have now moved to Moodle for easier access.
Limpopo Job Aids and Tools
The job aids and tools are used in health facilities in Limpopo Province. The pages can be downloaded in PDF. If you would like the MS Word or Excel version to adapt to your needs please email tsakani.mtileni@ul.ac.za
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