Background Bag mask ventilation of the newborn is the most difficult part of neonatal resuscitation, as experienced in the Helping Babies Breathe program. Methods to facilitate improved bag mask ventilation and aid training are therefore needed.

Methods 41 nursing and medical students without any knowledge of newborn resuscitation were trained in basic bag mask ventilation and ventilated with the two devices; a new Upright resuscitator (Laerdal Global Health, Stavanger) and a standard newborn resuscitator (Laerdal Medical, Stavanger) on a manikin in random order. Ventilation data was collected with the Newborn Resuscitation Monitor (Laerdal Global Health) and analysed for 40 students. One was omitted due to inaccurate data signal reading. The students answered questions grading mask seal (1) and ease of air entry (2) from 1 (difficult) to 4 (easy) and finally which device they preferred.

Results 31 of 41 (76%) students preferred the Upright resuscitator. For "mask seal" mean score was 3 for Upright and 2.5 for standard (one sample binomial test p = 0.03), and for “ease of air entry” 3.5 for Upright and 3.2 for standard (p = 0.05). Mean expired lung volume was 15.5 ml for Upright and 13.8 for standard resuscitator with mean difference 1.7 ml (95% confidence interval 3.2–0.2, one sample t-test for paired observations p = 0.03). Mean mask leakage for Upright was 46% and standard 60% (paired sample test p < 0,001).

Conclusion The students showed a preference towards the Upright resuscitator, which also provided a slightly higher expiratory volume and significantly reduced mask leakage compared to the standard resuscitator.