Congratulations to CMS Senior Director and faculty member, Demian Szyld, on his contributions to the the article, “Self-directed video versus instructor-based neonatal resuscitation training: a randomized controlled blinded non-inferiority multicenter international study” by Szyld EG, Aguilar A, Lloret SP, Pardo A, Fabres J, Castro A, Dannaway D, Desai PV, Capelli C, Song CH, Enriquez D, Szyld D; EdM on behalf of the SAVER Study Group in the February15th issue of the Journal of Perinatology.

Demian noted that he was especially honored to have the opportunity to contribute to an article with the lead author, Edgardo Szyld, MD, who is also his uncle. Dr. Edgardo Szyld is Director of Clinical Research, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and Associate Vice-Chair of Education, Deptarment of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine of the University of Oklahoma.

As described in the article, the objective of the study was to compare the efficacy of a video-assisted self-directed neonatal resuscitation skills course with a video-assisted facilitator-led course. The authors found that instruction for novice providers via a video-based system without a facilitator present is not inferior to similar instruction with a facilitator present for learning three critical PPV skills and theoretical content, though neither approach was sufficient for mastery of neonatal resuscitation in a simulated environment. Based on these findings, self-administered video training may be considered as a complement to the standard instructor-directed training programs for teaching basic newborn resuscitation.