Objective: To evaluate the impact of regular chest percussion on outcome measures for infants with pneumonia.Methods: A two-group pre-post quasi-experimental design was conducted in the Pediatrics Medical Unit at Abu Elrish Children’s Hospital, Cairo University. The experiment involved 100 infants fifty (control group) followed the hospital routine care and other fifty applied regular chest percussion (intervention group). Chest condition was assessed subjectively and objectively throughout five days before and after the regular chest percussion using Pediatrics Respiratory Severity Scales. Physiological measurements of infant’s respiratory rate, heart rate, and temperature and oxygen saturation were assessed. All research ethics were applied.Results: The mean of Pediatric Respiratory Severity Score (PRSS), temperature, respiration, heart rate and oxygen saturation among infants was statistically improved throughout the intervention days than the control group 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th days post the regular chest percussion at a significance level as p < .05.Conclusions: The regular chest percussion had a significant improvement in the respiratory health conditions for infants with bacterial pneumonia. This study recommends regular chest percussion that should be applied in medicine and intensive care units. Further researches must be done to add more evidence -based practices regarding the effect of chest percussion for children with pneumonia.

Newborn care practices by mothers immediately after birth are important determinants of neonatal mortality. To reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity, WHO recommends essential newborn care practices including promotion and support for early initiation of exclusive breastfeeding, thermal protection including promoting skin-to-skin contact, hygienic, umbilical cord, eye care and skin care among others [1]. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the effect of newborn-care practices for postnatal mothers on occurrence of selected health problems among their newborn infants. A total of 50 postnatal primigravida mothers with their newborn infants who attended the postnatal units at El-Manial maternity hospital in Cairo, Egypt, were recruited for this study. The required data was collected through A structured interview questionnaire; newborn follow-up sheet; (were developed by the researchers) and an observation checklist. Results indicated that the mean age of the study sample was 22.54± 3.62 years old, 64% of the postnatal mothers was living in rural areas, 60% of the postnatal mothers can read and write, 64% of the postnatal mothers' delivered male newborn, the birth weight of the newborn range was 2-3.75 Kg with a mean of 3.2±0.48 Kg, 76% of the newborn their GA ranged between 37-39 weeks. The results also revealed that a highly statistical significant difference has been found between means of mothers practice as regards eye care, cord care and diaper care pre and post intervention as (p<0.0001).In addition, there were highly statistically significant difference has been found between levels of practice between pre and post-practice as (p<0.0001). Regarding newborn follow-up, the results revealed that the minority of newborns (6%) developed diaper redness, 2% developed eye problem (discharge) and 96% their cord sloughed off before the end of the two weeks while 4% had delayed cord slough off. This study concluded that, mothers who received the newborn-care practices had higher total mean score of practice than before and the majority of them had satisfactory level of practice regarding the care of the newborn infants. The results also concluded that most of newborn infants of the mothers who received the intervention not exposed to the occurrence of diaper rash, eye problems and their cord slough off within expected time.

Most pressure injuries are preventable. Nurses have an essential role in their prevention, but they need to acquire related evidence-based knowledge and skills. The study aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of educational guidelines for pediatric nurses on the prevention of pressure injury (PI) among infants in intensive care unit (ICU). The study was carried out in ICU at El-Monira Children Hospital, affiliated to Cairo University hospitals using quasi-experimental design with pre-post evaluation. It involved 50 pediatric nurses and 50 infants under their care. Infants were 1-12 months old, newly admitted in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and connected to a mechanical ventilator. A self-administered questionnaire was used for nurse's knowledge, an observation checklist for practice, and the PI risk assessment scale. The educational guidelines prepared by the researcher based on assessment information and pertinent literature, and implemented it in small group sessions, and its effects evaluated immediately after, and one-month later. Two-thirds of the infants (64%) were not at risk of PI at the admission and first follow-up days. This was reduced to 56% on day 4. Nurses' knowledge was deficient in all aspects. In total, only one (2.0%) nurse had satisfactory knowledge before the intervention; this increased to 92.0% at the post-intervention phase, and 78% at follow-up. Moreover, none of the nurses had adequate total practice before the intervention; this rose to 74.0% at the post-intervention and follow-up phases. A higher admission risk score was a protective factor with Odds Ratio (OR) 0.87 for the incidence of pressure injuries, while a higher injury risk score on day 3 was a significant risk factor with OR 1.20. Thus, nurses in PICUs can gain evidence-based knowledge and skills related to PI prevention through simple educational guidelines associated with practical training.

Nursing educators should recognize the need to develop innovative teaching strategies that would enhance student learning. Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the effect of applying a self-instruction package on cognitive performance among pediatric nursing students in Egyptian and Saudi settings. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out at the Faculty of Nursing, Cairo-University, Egypt and the College of Nursing, Hail University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on a sample of convenience of 100 Egyptian and 90 Saudi nursing students. A self-instruction unit addressing lower respiratory infections, especially pneumonia was prepared and applied. The effectiveness was measured through pre-post-testing. Results: The results showed that the students in both samples had high levels of success in the posttests reaching in total 99.0% in the Egyptian sample and 100.0% in the Saudi sample. The lowest level of success in both samples were in the "compare" level of knowledge, 91.0% and 94.4% in the Egyptian and Saudi samples, respectively. As for the rates by question type, it reached 100.0% for "MCQ" and "list" types in both samples. Saudi students had significantly higher scores in the "know" level of knowledge (p=0.04), and in the "list" (p=0.02) and "compare/match" (p=0.004) types of questions, but with no statistically significant difference in total score (p=0.20). In multivariate analysis, the module was the main statistically significant independent positive predictor of the knowledge score improvement at all levels of knowledge. The Egyptian nationality was a positive predictor for the "know" and "analyze" levels. Meanwhile, the female gender was a positive predictor of the "apply" level of knowledge. Additionally, the Egyptian nationality was a positive predictor for the "MCQ" and "list" types. Conclusion: the self-instruction package is effective in improving the cognitive performance of nursing students in Egypt and Saudi Arabia in all cognitive levels and used various types of questions. The study recommends the use of the package in nursing schools, and development of similar ones in different topics.

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