Evaluation of primary health care nurses’ knowledge and neonatal screening performance for phenylketonuria in Alexandria

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Nurses play a crucial role in the primary prevention of phenylketonuria (PKU) within national screening programs for newborns. This is achieved through consult with the child's provider promptly to arrange a PKU test, accurate collection of blood samples at maternal and child health centers, enable early detection of potential cases. AIM: This study aimed to assess the level of primary health care nurses' knowledge and neonatal screening performance for phenylketonuria in Alexandria METHODS: A descriptive research design was used. The study included all nurses (50 nurses) who are responsible for obtaining newborn screening test from 5 primary health care centers in Alexandria. Two tools were used to collect the necessary data: nurses' knowledge regarding phenylketonuria disease assessment sheet and nurses' performance about newborn screening for phenylketonuria observational checklist. RESULTS: It was found that the mean age of participant was 42.94 ± 5.0 and 52% of them had completed their technical level of education and the means years of experience was 17.64 ± 4.84. The total mean score of nurses' knowledge regarding phenylketonuria screening was 16.24 ± 1.99 with the mean percent score of 72.72 ± 8.27. It was also found the total score of nurses' screening performance was 11.0 ± 0.97 with the mean percent score of 64.71 ± 5.70. A significant positive correlation was found between nurses' knowledge and their screening performance with P = < 0.001. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that majority of participant nurses had correct knowledge in neonatal screening and many aspects of phenylketonuria disease. However, they still needed support in steps related to infection control.