Hospital-based education improves care practices: Study

FE REPORT
Hospital-based health education has improved maternal and newborn care practices in the country, said a new study on Tuesday.
Targeted health education programmes focusing on the family companions at hospitals can significantly improve key maternal and newborn health practices, according to the study conducted by Noora Health Bangladesh under the direction of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Noora Health Bangladesh has conducted the study on the effectiveness of the Care Companion Programme (CCP) in Special Care Newborn Units (SCANUs) across 13 health facilities in the country.
The study employed a quasi-experimental design to compare standard care with CCP, which provides structured caregiver education on newborn and postnatal care prior to hospital discharge.
Surveys were carried out at the hospital and during 30- and 60-day follow-ups with mothers whose babies had been admitted to SCANUs.
The evaluation found that CCP enhanced maternal knowledge and adoption of essential health practices, resulting in improved care behaviours at home and reduced hospital readmissions for both mothers and newborns.
The study revealed a remarkable increase in maternal knowledge and adoption of essential health practices.
DGHS Director General (DG) Prof Dr Md Abu Jafor addressed the meeting as the chief guest and said through the CCP, Noora Health is addressing all the key components.
DGHS Additional Director General (Planning and Development), Prof. Dr. Sheikh Sayidul Haque, said, "Along with the nurses, we must also include other healthcare providers, doctors and management (professionals) into the programme. The linkage with the MIS (management information systems) is also critical. There should be regular visibility of the data generated by the CCP programme at the field level."
According to findings presented by Jakia Yasmin, research associate of Monitoring and Evaluation at Noora Health, mothers who participated in the programme were more than twice as likely to be aware of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), and their practice of EBF was 26 per cent higher.
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