An educational initiative in the neonatal intensive care unit for the novice nurse on thermoregulation

The need to enhance the effectiveness of education of the nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on thermoregulation is an expected obligation. Education of nurses plays an essential role in improving the quality of care, promotes empowerment, competency, professional skills development, best practices, and active promotion of evidence-based practice. The purpose of this project is to determine the effectiveness of the nursing staff education in the NICU and its effect on preventing hypothermia on admission of very low birth weight patients. The project was a Quality Improvement (QI) project. A pretest was presented to the new graduate nurses in the NICU before the thermoregulation education was delivered. Three weeks after the education was completed, a posttest was presented to the nurses to assess knowledge retention. The knowledge improvement on thermoregulation was assessed by comparing the pre and post education test scores using a descriptive method. The results of the project indicated a difference in the improvement in nurses’ knowledge on thermoregulation.