Purpose: To describe the working knowledge (knowledge-in-action) of
nurses in the speciality of neonatal nursing and understand how they acquire this
knowledge to inform strategies for orientation, mentorship, in-service programs
and curricula of speciality neonatal programs. A questionnaire consisting of three
parts; demographics, questions about outcomes of care and the NICU-BKAT4 knowledge
questionnaire. Was distributed to all neonatal nurses in Neonatal Intensive
Care Units (NICU) and Newborn Emergency Transport Service (NETS) in New South
Wales Australia.
Results: Nurses with less than one year speciality experience typically had the
lowest NICU-BKAT4 scores and ‘critical’ knowledge essential for safe practice
(p’s < .001). Patterns of learning emerged, with the majority (97%) of novice nurses
showing a preference for experiential ‘on-the-job’ learning