Predictors of Helping Babies Breathe knowledge and skills among nurses in primary health settings in Dodoma region, Tanzania

Abstract

Background: Globally, birth asphyxia is one of the leading causes of neonatal death. In Tanzania, neonatal deaths are estimated to be 25 deaths per 1000 live births and birth asphyxia accounts for 31% of those deaths. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 40 health centers within 7 districts in Dodoma Region among nurses working in maternity units. Simple random sampling was used to select participants. A knowledge questionnaire and performance skills checklist were used to assess nurses' knowledge and skills respectively. Chisquare and binary logistic regression were employed to test association and identify significant predictors of HBB knowledge and skills. Results: A total of 172 participants completed the study out of 176 recruited. This represents a respondent rate of 98%. Findings indicate that age, duration of professional training, and experience in maternity were significant predictors for knowledge and skills. However, after control of the confounders, experience in the maternity unit was found to be the only significant predictor of knowledge and skills in resuscitation of the neonates (AOR = 2.94; CI: 0.96-8.98; P = 0.05) and (AOR = 4.14; CI: 1.12-15.31; P = 0.03) respectively. Nurses with longer maternity nursing care experience of 5 years and above were better able to answer questions that demonstrated adequate knowledge (53.9%) and perform skills correctly (53.2%) related to HBB. Those with less than 5 years' experience had limited knowledge (20%) and skills (10.5%). Conclusion: In this setting, direct work experience in the maternity unit was the main factor influencing knowledge and skills in neonatal resuscitation with HBB.

Assessment of neonatal resuscitation skills among healthcare workers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

“…In rural facilities of Ethiopia and Tanzania, a low level of newborn resuscitation knowledge among HCWs was identified. 14 – 16 Conversely, in a tertiary-care hospital in Nepal, all HCWs assessed on knowledge prior to training performed above average. 17 The critical areas of deficiency identified in our written assessment included head positioning and ventilation rate.…”

“…Studies done in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and the USA have indicated a positive association between adequate knowledge and experience of more than 5 years in maternity units, including previous training on newborn resuscitation and current NRP training. 16 , 19 , 20 However, our small sample size may have lacked adequate power to identify predictors of performance on neonatal resuscitation knowledge and skills.…”

“…First, the majority of HCWs had worked in the maternity unit for less than 5 years, which has been associated with limited skills in neonatal resuscitation. 16 Furthermore, most of the deliveries at these sub-country hospitals are performed by a single HCW; hence, there is no practice of calling for help if there is a need for resuscitation, a critical step that we assessed. Finally, the majority of the HCWs assessed had not had any in-service training on neonatal resuscitation, despite practicing for more than 2 years.…”

Identifying factors associated with neonatal resuscitation skills among nurses and midwives in Tanzania, sub-Saharan Africa

“…A similar study done in Tanzania has reported similar finding. 21 The finding shows the necessity to prepare and conduct induction courses on neonatal resuscitation for newly employed nurses and midwives in Tanzania. It is evidenced that on-the-job training has a significant impact on the improvement of neonatal resuscitation.…”

Psychosocial factors associated with career success among nurses: A latent profile analysis

“…Professional experiences may affect nurses' career success, given that nursing is a practical occupation. For example, more years of work experience can lead to enhanced nursing skills (Joho et al, 2020). Therefore, the researchers expected that years of work experience would be related to nurses' career success.…”