Knowledge and practice of immediate newborn care among midwives and nurses in public health facilities of Afar regional state, Northeast Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundThe care given to newborns immediately within the first few hours of birth is critical for their survival. However, their survival depends on the health professional’s knowledge and skills to deliver appropriate newborn care interventions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of immediate newborn care among nurses and midwives in public health facilities of Afar Regional State, Northeast Ethiopia.MethodsInstitution based cross-sectional study design was employed on 357 nurses and midwives working in 48 public health facilities (45 health centers and 3 hospitals) during April 2018. Data were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaire and observation checklist. Then, data were entered into Epi-info version 7.0 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were carried out to estimate odds ratio with 95% confidence interval. A p-value less than 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance.ResultsOverall, 53.8% [95% CI: (48.6, 59.0%)] and 62.7% [(95% CI: (57.7, 67.8%))] of the health professionals (midwives and nurses) had adequate knowledge and good practice on immediate newborn care, respectively. Working in hospital [AOR: 4.62; 95% CI (1.76, 12.10)], being a female [AOR: 0.59; 95% CI (0.39, 0.98)] and interested in providing newborn care [AOR: 0.29; 95% CI (0.13, 0.68)] were positively associated with having adequate knowledge on immediate newborn care. On the other hand, having work experience of < 5 years [AOR: 0.33; 95% CI (0.14, 0.78)], inadequate knowledge [AOR: 0.39; 95% CI (0.25, 0.64)], having work load [AOR: 2.09; 95% CI (1.17, 3.73)], being not interested to provide immediate newborn care [AOR: 0.35; 95% CI (0.16, 0.74)] and working in health center [AOR: 8.56; 95% CI (2.39, 30.63)] were negatively associated with good immediate newborn care practices.ConclusionsA significant number of nurses and midwives had inadequate knowledge and poor practice on immediate newborn care. Therefore, providing a comprehensive newborn care training and creating an opportunity for nurses and midwives working at health centers to share experience from those hired in hospitals are very crucial to improve their knowledge and skills on newborn care.

Knowledge and practices of immediate newborn care among midwives in selected health care facilities in Ekiti State, Nigeria

“…The study revealed that majority (62.9%) had good practice of immediate new born care. This finding is in tandem with the findings in Northeast Ethiopia 62.7% [ 11 ], Bahir Dar city 59.7% [ 10 ] and North-western zone of Tigray 59.8% [ 15 ]. In comparison, our result is significantly higher than the analysis in the Tigray region's central zone of public health facilities [ 9 ], but lower than in Jimma (68.3%) [ 14 ], Eastern zone of Tigray (73%) [ 15 ], Addis Ababa (81%) [ 12 ] and Pune city (98%) [ 16 ].…”

“…This study found that the proportion of midwives with good knowledge of immediate newborn care was 56 percent, which is almost close to North-east Ethiopia findings (53.8%) [ 11 ], Addis Ababa (51%) [ 12 ] and Bahir Dar city (56%) [ 10 ]. This finding, by contrast, is less than the Jimma studies (66.4%) [ 13 ], eastern Tigray (75%) [ 14 ], North-western Tigray (64.8%) [ 15 ] and Pune city 72% [ 16 ].…”

“…Abdu et al . 2019 [ 11 ] indicated that those differences may be due to the disparity in the instruments and criteria used to assess practice of respondents.…”

The shadow challenges to improve the state essential newborn care practices in healthcare providers: evidence from a multicentre cross-sectional study in Ethiopia

“…Although different strategies have been implemented to enhance essential newborn care, only 16.4 and 13% of newborns obtained skilled health workers during delivery and the postnatal period respectively [ 14 ].…”

Effectiveness of Education Program on Nurse-Midwife’s Knowledge Regarding Immediate Newborn Care in Delivery Rooms at Maternity Hospitals in Baghdad City/Iraq

“…Therefore, the knowledge of health care workers on immediate newborn care was vital to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality. Nurses-midwives require knowledge provide immediate newborn care interventions (4) . Professional care at birth is crucial for both the newborn baby and mother.…”