Effect of Instructional Sessions on Nurses' and Doctors' Knowledge and Practice regarding Developmental Care in NICU in Abha City

Abstract

Preterm / low birth weight (LBW) infant is a live born infant delivered before 37 weeks from the first day of last menstrual period (LMP). It represents the highest percentage of high risk group and accounts for the largest number of admissions to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Preterm infants can develop a range of problems because their organs are not mature and an unfavorable environment in the neonatal intensive care unit may compound this morbidity. Developmental care (DC) is a non-traditional kind of care and it represents a framework for practice in NICU which optimizes this environment through reducing its stresses, help preterm infants cope better with this environment and has been proposed to ensure healthy outcomes for premature babies. These interventions include reducing noise and light, control of external stimuli, minimal handling, kangaroo care ( KC; skin-to-skin contact between an infant and parent), co-bedding, positioning or swaddling, clustering of nursery care activities, and giving longer rest periods. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of instructional sessions on nurses' and doctors' knowledge and practice regarding developmental care in NICU in Abha city. The study was conducted at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in both Abha General Hospital and Asser Central Hospital, Abha city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study involved 54 nurses and 12 doctors. A pre - post assessment questionnaire was developed after extensive literature review and validated by the research investigators to measure the knowledge and practice of nurses and doctors before and after the instructional sessions. The study concluded that there was change in nurses and doctors' knowledge about developmental care post instructional session's implementation. Furthermore, nurses' practice regarding developmental care was improved post instructional session's implementation which means that  the  instructional sessions had an effective role in enhancing both their knowledge and their practice. The study recommended that when designing a new neonatal intensive care unit or refitting an older one with more modern equipment, the infrastructure and design of it must be suitable to facilitate the application of developmental care. Moreover, the economic impact of the implementation and maintenance of developmental care practices should be considered by individual institutions.

Key Wards: Developmental care, premature and low birth weight infants, neonatal intensive care unit.