The Effect of Designed Care Plan on Clinical Condition of Infants Suffering from Pneumonia in Children Medical Center in Tehran

Pneumonia is the most common fatal respiratory infection. More than 2 million children under the age of 5 die from pneumonia every year and about 70-75% of these deaths occur in infants. According to previous studies, mothers’ insufficient knowledge about pneumonia and lack of necessary care may worsen the disease in their infants. Therefore, the present clinical trial study was carried out to determine the effects of designed care plan on the clinical condition of infants suffering from pneumonia in Children Medical Center in Tehran. Patients were 66 infants with the age span between 1-12 months who suffered from pneumonia. They were selected together with their mothers via random allocation technique and were assigned into two groups of experimental and control. Data collection tools were questionnaire, checklist and observational-interviewing checklist. The designed care plan was taught both theoretically and practically in experimental group with an eye to the strengths and weaknesses of mothers’ perfomance at home, while the control group had taken only ordinary care from their mothers. Every examining unit was followed up for 3 months after intervention. The data concerning infant clinical condition was gathered in repeated measurements before and after intervention. Independent T-test with repeated measurement and ANOVA indicated that there was a significant difference between experimental and control group in infant clinical condition parameters including cough, sputum, hyporexia, respiratory pattern, fever, respiratory rate, pulse rate, and temperature after intervention (P<0.05). According to the results, it can be claimed that using a designed care plan is an effective approach in improvement of clinical condition in infants suffering from pneumonia in our samples.