Assessment of Nurses' Knowledge and Practice Regarding to Kangaroo Care at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Abstract

A descriptive study was carried out, aiming to assess knowledge and practice of neonatal nurses regarding kangaroo care. This study was conducted at the neonatal intensive care units of children’s hospital, affiliated to Ain Shams University hospitals. The total sample were 50 nurses who worked in neonatal intensive care units. Tools of the study involved; interview questionnaire sheet, to assess characteristics of the nurses and their knowledge about kangaroo mother care, and an observation checklist adopted from World Health Organization, (2013) to assess nurses’ practice regarding maternal kangaroo care. The main results showed that more than half of the nurses had satisfactory total knowledge levels regarding prematurity and kangaroo care, and slightly less than half of them had satisfactory total practice levels of regarding kangaroo care. There were statistically significant differences between nurse’s knowledge of kangaroo and their age, educational level, years of experience in NICU and previous training courses in kangaroo care. The study concluded that nurses’ knowledge and practice regarding premature baby and kangaroo care were satisfactory by nearly half of the studied sample. The study recommended that kangaroo care technique should be a part of the routine care for all premature and lowbirth weight newborn infants admitted to NICUs .