Neonatal Care Practice among Nurses Working at both Public and Private Hospitals in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Despite medical advancement, Bangladesh still show high infant mortality rate. Infections, pre-term birth, and birth asphyxia are identified as the three leading causes of neonatal deaths worldwide. Advanced quality care and essential newborn care practices can minimize the mortality as well as the morbidity of neonates. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the neonatal care practice among nurses working at both public and private hospitals in Bangladesh. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among conveniently selected 117 nurses working at the selected three public and two private hospitals in Bangladesh. A face-to-face interview was carried out through a structured questionnaire containing two domains including the socio-demographic part and the neonatal care-related segment. Descriptive and inferential statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, SD and t-test, and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: The total mean score of neonatal care practice was 46.27±9.22 in public hospital and 50.85±5.03 in Private Hospital. The mean age of participants in public was 32.35 (SD=6.85) and in private hospitals was 29.91(SD=3.69) years. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between number of nurses (r=.834, p<.001), number of bed (r=.559, p<.001), job experience (r=.294, p= .023) and neonatal care practice among nurses in public hospital. There was a statistically significant negative relationship between number of nurses (r=-.812, p<.001), number of beds (r=-.812, p<.001) and neonatal care practice among nurses in private hospitals. Conclusion: It is concluded that the overall neonatal care practice of nurses in Bangladesh is at a satisfactory level. Though private hospital nurses show a higher level than government hospitals with respect to neonatal care practice.