Evaluation of quality of nursing care services provided to children under five years based on integrated management of child health at primary health care centers in Al-Diwanyah city / Iraq

The Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Diseases (IMNCI) approach is a comprehensive strategy that includes home and healthcare facility interventions. The international newborn child survival initiative was established by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to help newborns survive. The United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization introduced and implemented the methodology in 1995. YÇHEY includes remedial activities to be performed by medical professionals in addition to preventive measures to be taken by families and communities. In addition, it aims to contribute to the development of health infrastructure. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the quality of nursing care provided to children under the age of five and the demographic characteristics of nurses, based on the Integrated Management of Child Health Standards. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at primary care centers in IMNCI sectors in Diwaniyah, Iraq, between April and November 2022. A descriptive sample of 89 nurses working in primary healthcare facilities in the city of Al-Diwaniyah was selected. A specially designed questionnaire and observation method were used to collect data; The questionnaire consists of 6 items containing the demographic characteristics of the nurse: gender, age, education level, IMNCI education status, working time, and working time in the field of pediatrics. The observation method is a list consisting of three parts: the nursing care evaluation module, the role of nurses in the treatment module, and the communication module. Data collection was done first by observation and then by face-to-face questioning technique. Categorical data are shown with frequency and percentage distributions, and numerical data with the mean and standard deviation. An independent group t-test was used to determine the effect of demographic factors on quality of care. Eighty-nine nurses, 62.9% (n=56) female and 37.1% (n=33) male, participated in the study. The age of the participants is between 18-53 years. It was determined that a high percentage of the participants did not receive training on IMNCI. It was determined that the service period of the participants was in the range of more than 20 years, but the experience in pediatric nursing for the nursing staff was more than 15 years, and the education level of the participants was institute and above. When nurses working in primary care were grouped according to their gender, it was determined that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of nursing care quality (p≥0.05). It was determined that there was a difference between the service period of the nursing staff and the nursing care evaluation modules and the role of the staff nurses in the treatment module (p=0.001<0.05). However, it was determined that there was no statistically significant difference between the number of years of service of nurses and the nursing care communication modules (p>0.05). It was determined that the nursing care module average scores of nursing personnel with higher years of experience in pediatric care were higher (p<0.05). While gender did not show any effect on the quality of nursing care, age, education level, and years of experience showed an effect on the quality of nursing care.