Pre / postnatal periods are critical periods in woman’s life and providing nursing care during this time is important to maintain mother and child health. The aim of this study was to explore pre/postnatal nursing role among nurses work in MCH centers. This study was exploratory / descriptive design conducted in maternal and child health centers at Benha city, during the period of January 2005 up to June 2005. The sample composed of 120 nurses work in MCH centers at Benha city, data collection tools were constructed interviewing questionnaire for assessing the sociodemographic characteristics of nurses and knowledge related to pre/ postnatal care and an observational check list to collect nurses’ data about nursing practice during pre/ postnatal care. The results of this study showed that the mean age of the nurses was 28.38 5.38, the majority of nurses had incomplete knowledge about pre/ postnatal care and didn’t perform pre/ postnatal nursing skills. There were highly statistical significant differences between nurses’ pre/ postnatal knowledge and skills with their educational level, occupation and setting of MCH center, also there was a highly statistical significant difference between the total nurses’ pre/ postnatal knowledge and the total pre/ postnatal skills. This study concluded that nurses have incomplete pre/postnatal knowledge and nurses did not perform the majority of procedures needed during pre/ postnatal care. The study recommended that nurses should have regular, ongoing, specialized inservice training programs about pre/ postnatal nursing care, also nursing care standards should be applied in MCH centers to improve the care provided. |
