Date of Award

Summer 2025

Project Type

Thesis

College or School

CHHS

Department

Nursing

Departments (Collect)

Nursing

Program or Major

Direct Entry Masters of Nursing

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Deborah Simonton

Second Advisor

Sharon Godfrey

Abstract

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Newborn bathing is a common task performed in a labor and delivery unit of a hospital, a newborn’s bath temperature, timing and how long it is performed, are important metrics to consider. Due to a newborn’s immature thermoregulation, there are multiple implications that come with receiving a bath that is not an optimal temperature or that is too soon after birth. As newborn bathing is often overlooked task due to its quotidian nature, a literature review of current evidence-based practice revealed the urgency to keep the optimal conditions at the forefront of considerations for both nurses and caregivers. This quality improvement project serves to provide renewed nursing knowledge surrounding the topic and highlight these worthwhile efforts.

METHODS: The Plan, Do, Study, Act method was used to implement this initial cycle as a framework for implementing an educational opportunity and gather information on the nurse’s perception surrounding bath temperature education for caregivers. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were integrated in the educational material to gather data on if and how the nurse’s perception changed after exposure to the evidence-based practice included.

INTERVENTION: A ten-slide PowerPoint® presentation was used as nursing reeducation about the optimal conditions of newborn bathing to be demonstrated and taught in the labor and delivery units before discharge. This intervention served to highlight current knowledge about optimal bathing condition for newborns in a hospital’s labor and delivery unit.

RESULTS: Nurses that participated in the educational intervention came to a consensus on the optimal bath temperature of 38ºC. Eleven of the fourteen post-survey participators believed they are likely to include bathwater temperature safety in conversations with caregivers. This shows that with exposure to evidence-based practice such as critical parameters can be reinforced and more likely to be disseminated to caregivers. This leads to better physiological outcomes for infants.

CONCLUSION: Revisiting metrics and methods of daily tasks as a point of reeducating labor and delivery nurses is a worthy cause because it is directly linked to the well-being of infants. Low-cost interventions can have positive outcomes for the growth and development of infants when nurses are primed to share safety information related to newborn care.

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