Purpose: This study aimed to better understand the nursing care time spent with healthy term newborns from birth to discharge, giving insight into neonatal nursing staff management.
Method: In total, 30 healthy term newborns in a mixed hospital ward with an Obstetrics Department participated in this study. To measure care time, they had a wireless beacon attached to their cots. This measured how much time the nurses stayed in front of the cot from the time of birth until discharge, 24 hours/day. Collected data were tabulated every 24 hours after birth.
Results: Seventeen newborns had their data analyzed. The average length of hospital stay for the newborns was 8231.3 minutes. The average nursing care time for the newborns was 533.8 minutes. Nurses provided the highest care time during the first 24 hours after birth (157.6 minutes/24hr). After the first 24, the average nursing care time gradually decreased. The average nursing care time during the first 24 hours after birth was longer than the nursing care time for any other 24-hour periods, with a significant difference (p = 0.001 to 0.046).
Conclusion: The nursing care time for healthy newborns gradually decreased with the passage of time after birth. Healthy newborns should be treated as individuals, and the number of nursing staff should be adjusted according to the number of newborns in the ward to ensure nursing care quality and to prevent life-threatening events during the first 24 hours after birth.
Keywords: Nursing care time for newborns; Continuous nursing care time during hospitalization; Length of hospital stay; Mixed hospital ward.