An evaluation of neonatal nursing care in selected hospitals in the Western Cape

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa has a proud history of a high standard of health care delivery in State fundedhospitals. This implies that high standards of education and care in both medical andnursing training have been achieved. The care of sick and premature newborn infants bynurses is a speciality that has evolved worldwide over the last forty years as a result ofvarious technological developments.In order to ensure the standard of care delivered, protocols of care should be available fornurses to refer to and to measure their work against. There were no protocols of careavailable in the two Neonatal Units (NICUs) used in this study.Using a non-experimental, exploratory descriptive design, the researcher set aboutmeasuring the quality of nursing care in the NICUs. Standards (structure, process andoutcome) were written by the researcher, and validated.The results showed that the standards were not met at an acceptable level in variousareas. One of the areas of great concern was the lack of effective hand washing.Outcome standards which reflect the consequences of care indicated serious shortages ofstaff in some cases and insufficient staff training.Recommendations are that a Quality Assurance Program should be introduced withtraining and education of the nurses working in the NICUs and the introduction of evidencebasedpractice. Future research should aim at showing the way to improve the servicedelivered.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University