The impact of an educational program regarding total parenteral nutrition on infection indicators in neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit

Background: One of the basic care measures for preterm infants is providing nutrition through total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and one of the most important complications of it is infection. Because prevention of nosocomial infections is an important issue for neonate's safety, this study aimed to determine the effects of a continuing medical education (CME) course on TPN for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses on indicators of infection in newborns. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 127 neonates who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. They were selected through simple convenience sampling method at two stages of before and after the CME program. The inclusion criteria were prescription of TPN by the physician and lack of clinical evidences for infection in newborns before the beginning of TPN. Death of the infant during each stage of the study was considered as the exclusion criteria. The data gathering tool was a data record sheet including clinical signs of infection in the infants and their demographic characteristics. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and student's t-test in SPSS software. Results: The results showed the frequency of clinical markers for infection in newborns at the pre-intervention stage (n = 41; 65.10%) was significantly less than at the post-intervention stage (n = 30; 46.90%) (p = 0.04). Conclusions: Nursing educational programs on TPN reduce infection rates among neonates in NICUs.