Knowledge regarding Physiological Jaundice among Postnatal Mothers Admitted in Postnatal Wards of Selected Hospitals

BACKGROUND: Jaundice is the most common condition that requires medical attention in newborns. The yellow discoloration of the skin and sclera in newborns with jaundice is the result of accumulation of unconjugated bilirubin. Neonatal jaundice may have first been described in a Chinese textbook 1000 years ago. Medical theses, essays, and textbooks from the 18th and 19th centuries contain discussions about the causes and treatment of neonatal jaundice. Several of these texts also describe a lethal course in infants who probably had Rh iso-immunization. In 1875, Orth first described yellow staining of the brain, in a pattern later referred by Schmorl as kernicterus. OBJECTIVES: 1) To assess the knowledge regarding physiological jaundice among post natal mothers in post natal wards of selected hospitals.2) To associate the knowledge score with selected demographic variables. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A quantitative non experimental descriptive research design was used to arrive at results and thereby conclusions. The study was conducted in postnatal wards of selected hospitals. Survey research approach was used in this study.100 postnatal mothers were selected for the study. Structured knowledge questionnaire were used to collect the data. RESULT: Findings reveled that, Majority of postnatal mothers (58 %) had average and (26 %) of had good knowledge and (15 %) had poor knowledge and only (1 %) had very good knowledge regarding physiological jaundice. CONCLUSION: After detailed analysis, it was found that significant difference was found in knowledge and So, it is concluded that post natal mothers have average knowledge regarding physiological jaundice.