Effect of Planned Teaching Programme on Knowledge of Immediate Care of Low Birth Weight Babies among Staff Nurses Working in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Selected Hospitals of an Urban Area

A baby born with a birth weight of less than 2500 grams is termed as low birth weight baby. In India, 2 out of 10 term babies are born with low birth weight. The prevalence of low birth weight exists universally in all population. Low birth weight with high mortality and morbidity continuous to be a major health problem in India. Half of the prenatal and one third of the infant mortality is due to low birth weight. Low birth weight is also an important indirect cause of neonatal deaths. It contributes to 60% to 80% of all neonatal deaths. The global prevalence of LBW is 15.5%, which amounts to about 20 million LBW infants born each year, 96.5% of them in developing countries. OBJECTIVES: To assess the knowledge level of staff nurses on immediate care of low birth weight babies before and after planned teaching programme and to determine the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on the knowledge of staff nurses regarding immediate care of low birth weight babies. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive evaluatory approach was selected to assess the knowledge of staff nurses before and after planned teaching. Evaluative approach was used to test the effectiveness of teaching module on immediate care of low birth weight babies. The sample consists of 30 staff nurses with less than 2 years of experience in neonatal intensive care unit and the sampling technique was non probability purposive sampling. One group pretest post-test design was adopted where the group was assessed with structured questionnaire. The content validity of the tool was established by giving it to 11 experts and reliability of the tool was tested by administering it to 10 staff nurses in NICU. The tool was found reliable r = (0.97). Frequency and percentage are used to analyze the sample characteristics. The effectiveness of the planned teaching was assessed by test re test method. The data obtained was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY: It is seen that in all the areas of knowledge there is a gradual increase in post test mean scores. Maximum improvement in post test mean scores can be seen areas such as knowledge regarding assessment of low birth weight baby, where the mean has significantly improved from 3.27 to 5.03. Drastic improvement is seen in post test mean score on Knowledge regarding care of baby at birth where the mean has significantly improved from 2.67 to 4.50. About knowledge regarding prevention, early detection, and prompt management of complications there is good improvement where the mean has significantly improved from 0.43 to 1.33 in post test. Average increase in post test mean scores can be seen areas such as knowledge regarding low birth weight, where the mean has significantly improved from 5.27 to 6.77.Good improvement is seen in knowledge regarding maintenance of temperature where the mean has significantly improved from 1.83 to 2.67 in post test. About knowledge regarding maintenance of nutrition and hydration, the mean has significantly improved from 1.97 to 2.97 in post test. On knowledge regarding prevention of infection the mean has significantly improved from 3.07 to 3.37 in post test. The mean pretest and post test knowledge scores were 18.53 and 26.63 The calculated' value (19.33) was greater than the table value of 2.05 which suggest that the planned teaching was effective. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that planned teaching programme regarding immediate care of low birth weight babies has improved the knowledge level of staff nurses significantly.