As part of the newborn week celebrations, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Nursing [OBG(N)], Manipal College of Nursing(MCON), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal in collaboration with the Department of Paediatrics, Kasturba Medical College Hospital (KMCH), Manipal organized Webinar series on “Newborn individuality in view of caring and services provided” from 16th – 20th November 2020, for all the health care professionals of India who care for newborns through virtual mode in Microsoft Teams Platform.

On 16 November 2020 - day 1 of the webinar Dr Sonia R B D’Souza, Professor and HoD, Department of OBG (N), MCON, MAHE, Manipal welcomed the gathering and introduced the keynote speaker. The keynote address was delivered by Dr Leslie E S Lewis, Professor and HoD, Department of Paediatrics, KMCH, Manipal. Overview of the webinar was given by the convener for the webinar series, Mrs Sweety J Fernandes, Assistant Professor, OBG (N), MCON, MAHE, Manipal.

The session for the first day (16 November 2020) was taken by Dr. Manisha Bhandarkar, Professor, Neonatology, KLE, Belagavi on the topic – “Quality care in neonatal nursing - Innovate, illuminate and inculcate quality care for every newborn.” The session emphasized teamwork for improving quality of neonatal care, four steps involved in team building, Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, clinical audit and developmentally supportive care. This session was moderated by Mrs Sweety J Fernandes, Assistant Professor, OBG (N), MCON, MAHE, Manipal. There were 50 attendees excluding the organizers.

On 17 November 2020, day 2 of the webinar series, Dr Ranjan Kumar Pejaver, Paediatrician, deliberated on the topic “Cost-effective interventions to improve newborn care.” He stressed on the importance of newborn care, also made the participants aware of the myths of requirement of high-cost newborn care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and stressed the importance of cost-effective interventions to improve outcomes of newborns in the NICU. He emphasized the role of the nurses in improving the care of the newborns, and went on to teach the ten simple, yet cost-effective interventions to improve the quality of newborn care that can be employed by the health care professionals. The session was moderated by Dr Leslie E Lewis, Professor and HoD, Department of Paediatrics, KMCH, Manipal. Around 66 participants benefited from this program.

On 18 November 2020, day 3 of the webinar series, Dr Savitha Pramila Dsouza, Staff Midwife, National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin, Ireland spoke on the topic “Newborn health care and quality improvement in comparison with the present scenario.” She drew attention on improving the practice, skills and quality care for newborns by the midwives. She talked in detail on newborn routine care, community midwifery roles in education as well as counselling to

mothers, thermoregulation, breastfeeding, care for flat nipple and also in her talk emphasized on harvesting of human milk. The session was moderated by Mrs Pratibha, Asst. Professor, Dept. of OBG (N), MCON, MAHE, Manipal. Around 73 participants benefited from this program.

On 19 November 2020, day 4 of the webinar series the session on “Professional Social Responsibility for Neonatal Survival” was deliberated by Dr Shantaram Baliga, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Paediatrics, KMC, Mangalore. He threw light on the origin of district model of neonatal care and shared how his own experience in working in a government hospital NICU during his post-graduation had helped him to understand the importance of public-private partnership for improvement of quality care for newborns. He also stressed the importance of professional social responsibility. He mentioned about the neonatal, infant mortality rates, explained about the need for improving the delivery room care, reducing the antibiotic usage and stressed on the importance of giving colostrum to the newborn babies. The session was moderated by Dr Shrikiran A, Professor, Dept. of Pediatrics, KMCH, Manipal. Around 78 participants benefited from this program.

On 20 November 2020, day 5 of the webinar series, the session was taken by Dr Apurv Barche, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Pediatrics, KMCH, Manipal on the topic “Caring for the future of preemies using quality improvement measures.” He stressed on research techniques and how it can be implemented in the clinical setup in terms of improving the quality care for newborns especially the preemies, and also threw light on the present-day neonatal statistics worldwide and in the different states of India. He stressed on why quality is important for improving these statistics. The session was moderated by Mrs Shobha, Lecturer, Dept. of OBG (N), MCON, MAHE, Manipal. Around 68 participants benefited by this program. The webinar was concluded with a vote of thanks by the co-convener for the webinar series, Mrs Pratibha, Asst. Professor Dept. of OBG (N), MCON, MAHE, Manipal.