Knowledge and attitude of nurses towards infant hearing impairment in North India

Abstract

As research indicates that nurses are one of the core medical professionals who play a key role in the ICU as they can identify high risk babies who need audiological intervention, provided they should have adequate knowledge available in relation to different facts about pediatric hearing loss. To provide appropriate information to the nurses, audiologists should have basic layout regarding the status of the nurses in respect to the knowledge and attitude-related pediatric hearing loss and significant audiological management. The present research is being conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of issues in pediatric hearing loss among nurses across various range of hospital set up in northern India. A questionnaire-based study (online survey) of 22 questions was designed and adopted from similar studies to assess the knowledge and attitude among nurses regarding hearing impairment among pediatric population. A total of 115 nurses from primary nursing care, corporate and government hospitals participated in the present study. The outcome of the present study revealed poor knowledge and attitude towards hearing impairment of infants among nurses across north India. Henceforth, there is an urgent need to educate these professionals as prevention is better than cure. Keywords: Newborn hearing screening, Nurses, India.