Immediate Essential Care for New-borns in the Six Hospitals of Conakry: Knowledge and Practices of Providers

The aim of this work was to analyze the organization and execution of immediate essential care for newborns in referral hospitals in Conakry. Immediate essential newborn care is a key component for a maternity hospital. lower risk, but often overlooked by health providers. Methodology: This was a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study carried out through an observation of the practices of immediate care for newborns and the individual interview of providers in six referral hospitals in urban areas of Conakry, from April 1 to June 30, 2020. We have carried out an exhaustive recruitment of all providers working in the delivery room and meeting the inclusion criteria. We used the checklist, the written questionnaire for individual interviews and the provider observation grid. Provider knowledge and practice was observed during immediate neonatal care. The independent variables were socio-demographic factors and personal and institutional factors. Statistical comparisons were made using the chi-square test. the differences were considered significant for p<0.05. Results: In this study 69 providers agreed to participate in the study, with a response rate of 100%, the largest proportion 61/69 (88.4%) were midwives, In terms of knowledge: 56, 5% of providers cited all the equipment and consumables to be prepared at the time of childbirth, 94.2% on thermal protection, 82.6% on the components of immediate newborn care, In terms of skills: 84.1% of our providers recognized newborns needing resuscitation and 15.9% were competent on this procedure, skin-to-skin contact was achieved in 68.1%. On the other hand, thermal protection is statistically linked to knowledge of the normal temperature of the newborn p=0.015. For the prevention of infection, there is a significant relationship with the training of providers p=0.001. Conclusion: Globally, newborn care providers have gaps in the knowledge and practice of the immediate care they offer newborns, this situation can only be improved by close monitoring of providers.