ESSENTIAL NEWBORN CARE PRACTICE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG OBSTETRIC CARE PROVIDERS IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS OF GAMO, GOFA AND WOLAYTA ZONES, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA, 2022

Abstract

Background: Essential newborn care is the fundamental care that all newborns receive in the delivery room from trained professionals in the first few hours of their lives to ensure their survival and health. Millions of children die within the first month of life from diseases and disorders caused by a lack of professional care in the early stages of life. There are few studies in Ethiopia that measure a baby's vital signs, and the majority of those that were completed used subjective methods. This study uses an observational technique using a standard checklist to examine the practice of essential newborn care and its associated factors. Objective: To assess essential newborn care practice and associated factors among obstetric care providers in public hospitals of Gamo, Gofa and Wolayta zones, southern Ethiopia. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 15 to June 30, 2022. A simple random sampling technique was used to select study participants. The survey responses were entered into Epidata version 4.6 and exported to statistical packages for social science version 25 for analysis. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis were employed. The odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals with p-value of <0.05 were computed to identify factors associated with essential newborn care practice. Results: The overall magnitude of good essential newborn care practice among obstetric care providers was 53.5% (95% CI = 49, 58). Interested on working in delivery room (AOR=3.16, 95% CI=1.71,5.83), having no work load (AOR=2.96, 95% CI=1.78,4.49), received in-service training (AOR=3.09, 95% CI=1.75,5.45), having supportive supervision (AOR=3.41, 95% CI=1.25, 9.24), and having good knowledge on essential newborn care (AOR=3.04, 95% CI=1.89,4.90) were significantly associated variables with the practice of essential newborn care. Conclusion: The overall practice of essential newborn care in the study area was poor as compared to most previous findings. Good practice of essential newborn care was affected by interest, workload, in-service training, supportive supervision, and knowledge. Therefore, training staff and supportive supervision would always be there to motivate good workers.