Effect of Monitoring and Evaluation Systems on the Performance of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Yumbe Regional referral hospital; A Pre-post quasi-experimental study design

Purpose This study explored the effect of implementing monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems on the performance of the Neonatal Intensive care Unit at Yumbe regional referral hospital. Methods A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was employed involving 236 neonates, with 103 in the pretest group (Before the implementation monitoring and evaluation systems) and 130 in the posttest group (after the implementation of monitoring and evaluation). The intervention lasted 105 days. Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as; neonatal mortality rates, length of stay, neonatal intensive care’s effectiveness, morbidity rate, survival rates, and infection control were measured. Patient satisfaction as a secondary outcome was also explored through questionnaire surveys. Data collected was entered directly in Micro software, and exported to the STATA version 18 for analysis Results Neonatal mortality rates significantly decreased from 19.4% in the pretest group to 7.7% in the posttest group (P<0.01). The survival rates improved from 80.6% in the pretest group to 92.3% in the posttest group. The average length of stay was reduced from 10 days (SD=4) to 8 days (SD=3) (P<0.05). Neonatal intensive care effectiveness scores improved from a mean of 2.8 to 3.5 (P<0.01). Compliance with Neonatal intensive care unit protocols increased from 70% to 80% (P<0.01). The reliability of monitoring and evaluation components was high, with Cronbach’s alpha values ranging from 0.754 to 0.915 Conclusion Implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems significantly enhanced NICU’s performance, reduced mortality rate, improved survival rates and improved patient satisfaction. These findings underline the importance of M&E frameworks in optimizing neonatal care.