Implementation of Discharge Teaching with Neonatal Nurses in Rwanda

Update Item Information
Identifier 2020_Adair
Title Implementation of Discharge Teaching with Neonatal Nurses in Rwanda
Creator Adair, Megan
Subject Advanced Practice Nursing; Education, Nursing, Graduate; Neonatal Nursing; Patient Discharge; Health Literacy; Patient Education as Topic; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Infant Death; Outcome Assessment, Health Care; Medically Underserved Area; Quality Improvement; Rwanda
Description Background: Global efforts have aimed to decrease neonatal deaths (death in the first 28 days of life). The global neonatal mortality rate (NMR) is approximately 18 per 1,000 live births. In 2015, Rwanda's neonatal mortality rate (NMR) was 20 per 1,000 births with a goal of decreasing that number by half. Early discharge and lack of parent education are risk factors for infant demise. In low-resource settings, newborns are often discharged within twelve hours after birth. Early discharge puts the newborn at risk by limiting skilled newborn observation for danger signs that can occur in the first 24 hours of life. Infants are at further risk when parents fail to receive newborn discharge education. Without knowledge of newborn danger signs, parents may delay seeking care and increase the newborn's risk for morbidity and mortality. Methods: A quality improvement project aimed to improve nurses' discharge teaching for newborns at a Rwandan district hospital. Six neonatal nurses were educated on newborn discharge content. Nurses' baseline knowledge was assessed using a 5-question pre-test. Nurses were educated and trained on essential discharge information using an illustrated discharge flip chart to teach parents. Educational methods included role-play, discussion and a checklist. Post-education the nurses answered the same 5-question test to evaluate retention of information. At a four-month follow-up visit, the nurses repeated the post-test to evaluate knowledge retention. A focus group was conducted to determine nurses' perspectives on the education as well as the feasibility, usability, and sustainability of parent education with the flip-chart.2 Results: At 4 months, the nurses had a 31% increase in test scores when compared to the initial pre-test. During the focus group, nurses endorsed feeling more confident in their ability to identify danger signs. Time was a barrier to discharge education for parents. Use of the flip-chart was found to be a useful guide for parent education sessions although some stopped using it as a teaching guide over time.Conclusions: The educational sessions and flip chart appear to be effective resources in helping to educate nurses and streamline parent discharge teaching. Replication of this project with a larger sample is needed to determine the impact this intervention has on nurse and patient outcomes.
Relation is Part of Graduate Nursing Project, Doctor of Nursing Practice, DNP, Women's Health, Global
Publisher Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah
Date 2020
Type Text
Rights Management © 2020 College of Nursing, University of Utah
Holding Institution Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah
Collection Nursing Practice Project
Language eng
ARK ark:/87278/s6479vnf
Setname ehsl_gradnu
ID 1575180
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6479vnf
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