الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: In Egypt the neonatal mortality is 25 per 1000 live births (17 early and eight late). Half the deaths occurred in the first two days of life. The most common causes of neonatal mortality, morbidity and disability include ; prematurity, neonatal respiratory infection neonatal sepsis, neonatal tetanus and cord infection, heart defect, congenital anomalies, and birth trauma or asphyxia. Immediate assessment of the newborn helps to determine the initial condition, establishes a baseline for subsequent care, and identifies potential and existing problems and ensures the newborn adaptation to extrautrine life is progressing normally. An important component of assessment is the investigation done for hypocalcemia The nurse must be able to knowhow to perform essential basic interventions and to take care of the hypocalcemic infant. Skilled care and early identification of problems could reduce the incidence of death and disability. Objectives: (1) Assessment of the neonates delivered and detection of those at risk to suffer neonatal hypocalcemia. (2) Intervention trial on 20 nurses attending the deliveries and taking care of neonates during the immediate postnatal period. Study design: This prospective study was carried out in the obstetric hospital and NICU, at Zagazig University Hospital, on 100 parturient women and their newborn infants. Parturient women were subjected to history-taking, physical examination, and investigations, including, Assessment of neonates was carried out by the attending neonatologist and investigator. Twenty nurses were selected for the training program which was designed to upgrade nurse’s knowledge and. skills pertaining to neonatal assessment and detection of hypocalcemia. Results: The majority of parturient women were medically normal, 25% of them still have medical problem(s) during pregnancy (diabetes, chronic chest/heart disease, osteoporosis and infections). The majority (68%) of studied women were delivered by normal vaginal delivery, while the indications of operative delivery included failed induction of labor, fetal distress and meconium stain. The majority of neonates, in the immediate post natal period, were normal. Meanwhile, prematurity, still birth and
twins accounted for 26.5%, 3.9% and 3.9%, respectively. The incidence of
hypoglycemia and hypocalcemia accounted for 29.6% and 27.6%, respectively. Early-onset neonatal hypocalcemia causes included; prematurity, infant of diabetic mother, pre-eclampsia and perinatal asphyxia. At the pre-test, and before the educational program
implementation, the percent knowledge scores were low for most nurses.
However, significant improvement in nurses’ knowledge was noted at the
post-test. Additionally, nurses’ practice, regarding assessment of neonates.