Assessment of Nurses' Performance Regarding Infant Sleep Position on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Background: Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden unexplained death of an infant during sleep. It is the most common cause of post neonatal mortality. Aim: This study aimed to assess nurses' performance regarding infant sleep position on sudden infant death syndrome at Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Design: A descriptive research design was used to conduct this study. Settings: This study was carried out at NICUs in Helwan General Hospital affiliated to Ministry of health and Mustafa Hassan Pediatric Hospital affiliated to Fayoum University Hospitals. Sample: A convenience sample of seventy nurses who providing care for preterm and low birth weight infants admitted to NICUs in the previous mentioned settings. Tools: Two tools were used for data collection; 1st tool: A structured interview questionnaire sheet consists of two parts: Part (1) to assess characteristics of studied sample, Part (2) to assess nurses' knowledge regarding infant sleep position on SIDS, 2nd tool: Observational checklist to assess nurses' practice regarding infant sleep position on SIDS. Results: The mean age of studied nurses was 25.47±4.26 years and the mean gestational age of infants was 32.43±2.71 weeks, 55.7% of the studied nurses had unsatisfactory level of knowledge regarding infant sleep position on SIDS. Also, the study proved that, 58.6% of studied nurses had incompetent level of practice regarding infant sleep positions at NICUs. Conclusion: It can be concluded that, more than half of the studied nurses had unsatisfactory total level of knowledge regarding infant sleep position on SIDS and more than half of them had incompetent practice. Additionally, there were statistically significant differences between nurses’ total level of knowledge and their characteristics namely educational qualifications (P =0.033) and attendance of previous educational courses about the infant sleeping position at the NICUs (P =0.005), while there were highly statistically significant differences between nurses’ total level of practice and their years of experience at NICUs (P<0.001).Recommendations: Continuous training program for nurses to improve their performance regarding infant sleep position on sudden infant death syndrome.