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Evaluation of a Structured Teaching Program Impact on Pediatric Staff Nurses’ Knowledge Regarding Application of New Ballard’s Score

Ramudevi C., Linta Thomas, Nimmi Peter, Aimy George

Abstract


The Ballard score is a calculator to assess the gestational maturity of your newborn in the first 24 hours. A unified system has been developed that enables physicians and other health care professionals to rapidly and accurately classify all newborns and identify high-risk neonates. Our study aimed to evaluate the impact of a structured teaching program on the knowledge of pediatric staff nurses in a selected multispecialty hospital in Wayanad regarding the application of the new Ballard score. We employed a quasi-experimental design with one group, involving pretest and posttest assessments. Samples were selected using the convenience sampling method, and the sample size was 30. Data was collected via the administration of a structured questionnaire, and participants independently filled out the survey. A pilot study was carried out to evaluate the practicability of the research. During the main study, data were collected by administering the questionnaire to each participant, followed by a structured teaching program of 30 minutes duration. The posttest was administered two weeks later. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, in line with the study’s objectives and formulated hypotheses. The study’s results indicated that the structured teaching program significantly enhanced the knowledge of pediatric staff nurses in the application of the new Ballard score. The posttest score of 15.30  1.60 was notably higher than the pretest score of 8.8  2.85, with a “P” value of 0.000. There was no significant association between the knowledge of pediatric staff nurses regarding the application of the new Ballard score and any of the selected demographic variables.

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.37628/ijpn.v9i2.2374

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