Skip Navigation



Journal of Tropical Pediatrics Advance Access published online on December 14, 2006
Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, doi:10.1093/tropej/fml080
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
53/2/113    most recent
fml080v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Senarath, U.
Right arrow Articles by Rodrigo, I.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Senarath, U.
Right arrow Articles by Rodrigo, I.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author [2006]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Newborn Care Practices at Home: Effect of a Hospital-based Intervention in Sri Lanka

Upul Senaratha *, Dulitha N. Fernandoa and Ishani Rodrigob

Departments of aCommunity Medicine, and bPaediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Correspondence: Dr Upul Senarath, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, 25, Kynsey Road, Colombo 08, Sri Lanka. E-mail < upul.senarath{at}yahoo.com>.


  Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of an essential newborn care (ENC) training programme for maternity ward staff in improving newborn care practices after hospital discharge. A before-and-after study was conducted in the community involving mothers who had given birth in two hospitals in the Puttalam district in Sri Lanka. The intervention was a 4-day training programme and primarily aimed at increasing knowledge and skills of ENC among health care providers in the maternity units of these hospitals. Before the intervention, 144 mother–newborn pairs were followed-up and interviewed at their households within 28–35 days of delivery. Three months after the intervention, 150 mother–newborn pairs were interviewed at home. Results revealed that there was a significant improvement in umbilical cord care practices at home following the intervention. Application of ‘surgical spirit’ on umbilical cord has declined from 71.5% in the pre-intervention to 45.3% in the post-intervention samples (p < 0.001). Pre-intervention breastfeeding rates were high, and there wasn't any further improvement in the post-intervention. There was a 35% reduction in the proportion of newborns who developed any undesirable health events at home (p < 0.05). Findings suggest that the implementation of a comprehensive 4-day training programme of ENC for maternity ward health professionals can be followed by a significant improvement in mothers' practices on care of umbilical cord and clinical outcomes of newborns.

Key Words: essential newborn care • training of health staff • neonatal care • Sri Lanka


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.