ASSESSMENT OF NEONATAL CARE SERVICES BY NURSES IN TERTIARY HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH EASTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Survival of the newborn demands care by professionals who are sound in knowledge and practice of neonatal care so as to give quality care. This study focused on assessment of neonatal care services by nurses in tertiary health institutions in South Eastern Nigeria. It was a descriptive cross-sectional research design. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 440 nurse respondents for the study. Two research questions and one null hypothesis guided the study. The Instruments used for data collection were questionnaire on neonatal care services by nurses in tertiary health Institutions and checklist on assessment of available and functional equipment, drugs and nursing staff strength in tertiary health institutions. Standard descriptive statistics of frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation were used to summarize the variables and answer the research questions. Kruskal Wallis test was used in testing the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The result indicated good quality of neonatal care given by nurses in the tertiary health institutions (mean =2.88; SD = 0.69). There was generally poor attitude by the nurses (mean = 2.42; SD = 0.38). Staff strength of the nurses significantly influenced the attitude displayed by the nurses in their care of the neonates (x²= 9.293; p-value = 0.026).