Abstract
Background: Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is one of the most frequent respiratory diseases; it results from lung immaturity and a deficiency in surfactant, so it is seen most often in premature infants and is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Aim of the study: was to evaluate the effectiveness of applying an educational module about neonatal RDS on nurse's practice. Subjects and Methods: Research design: A quasi experimental research design was used. Setting: The present study was conducted at the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) involved in Pediatric Hospital and Obstetric Emergency Hospital at Zagazig University Hospitals, and El-Mabara Hospital for health insurance. Subjects: 50 nurses who were providing direct nursing care to neonates in mentioned settings. Tools for data collection: Two tools were used; first a questionnaire sheet to collect nurses' characteristics and the second tool was an observational checklist used to assess nurse's practice. Educational module was developed to educate the studied nurses about neonatal RDS. Results: 10.0% of the studied nurses had good practice score before implementation of educational module. This percentage increased to 94.0% after implementation of educational module, and decreased to 84.0% in the follow up phase. Conclusions: Implementation of the educational module to nurses' have a positive effect on improving their practice about Respiratory distress syndrome as there was a statistical difference throughout the three phases of the study. Recommendations: Hospitals should provide guidelines protocol to the nurses about nursing care for neonates in critical care units and In addition, develop evidence based guidelines on RDS to be available for all nurses in order to follow is essential.