Author: Mary L. PuchalskiPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
"The rapidly increasing incidence of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) in the U.S. has been identified as a national healthcare crisis. An evidence-based practice change project, "Interprofessional Healthcare Provider Education on NAS" (IHPEN) was designed to implement a protocol to increase consistency in treatment for infants with NAS and provision of healthcare provider education to increase knowledge regarding NAS, as well as sensitivity to the signs and symptoms of withdrawal. The target population included all healthcare providers in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Mother/Baby Unit of a large, urban, not-for-profit perinatal center. The project was developed in response to a need for an organized, structured, systematic, and collaborative approach to assessment and treatment. This need was based on the following observations: (a) increasing numbers of patients admitted to the NICU who were diagnosed with NAS, (b) long lengths of stay for infants with NAS, (c) an inconsistent approach to the pharmacologic treatment and weaning of medications because of a lack of a protocol for infants with NAS, (d) frustration expressed by all neonatal healthcare providers as how to "best" handle infants with NAS, and (e) a need for staff education on the topic of NAS. 141 healthcare providers participated in the educational intervention. 32% of the participants reached the benchmarked level of improvement of 10% from pretest to posttest, and 53% percent of the participants improved their pretest to posttest score. A paired-sample t-test was conducted to compare the differences in pretest and posttest score and found to be significant pretest (p = 0.000164). Thus, the outcomes of this evidence-based educational intervention supported the importance of providing comprehensive, interprofessional training on the assessment and treatment of infants with NAS in order to enhance healthcare provider knowledge." -- Abstract.
