Assessment Of The Postnatal Care Provided By The Certified Nurses In The Family Health Units In Abu Hammad District

The postpartum period represents a critical time for the mother, her newborn and her family, on physiological, emotional and social level.The aim of this work: is to improve the performance of the postnatal care provided by the certified nurses in the family health units.Objectives: the assessment of the postnatal care activities performed by the nurses during the home visits as a part of the Family Health Units services, assessment of the awareness of the nurses about the different items of postnatal activities and assessment of the associated factors which affect the performance of the nurses during the postnatal care visits.Subjects and methods: It was a cross sectional study.It was conducted at all the rural Family Health units (5) in AbuHammad District during the first 6 months of the year 2010. All family health units performing post natal care services. All the certified nurses (41) actually working for home visits. The researcher accompanied each nurse in only one post natal visit for one mother (2nd or 4th or 6th day after labour) according to the reported cases of labour in units. The total visits assessed were 41 visits.Results:The highest satisfactory performance (76%) was in newborn care.all the nurses (100%) had average to good knowledge about newborn care but knowledge of 27% of were bad about advices and instructions. Nurses with experience ≥10 years and those having training courses had significantly higher performance compared with those with less experience or not having training courses (P < 0.05).There was a significant relation between knowledge and performance among nurses where those with average to good knowledge were having satisfactory performance significantly higher than those with bad knowledge.Recommendations: Motivating the doctors to follow up, evaluate and improve the clinical skills of nurses. Training the nurses to apply their knowledge on the practical field.