Introduction:

A lot of questions rise in the contest of COVID-19 regarding the care of the newborn suspected to be or infected with the virus, and if this special care affects breastfeeding.

Objective:

To design an educative intervention for the preparation of the medical student regarding the health care of the newborn with infection or suspected infection of COVID-19.

Method:

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out, approved by the Ethics Committee of the institution. The study population was made of 80 students of the 6th year of Medicine School in their internship period in the Hospital Dr Agostinho Neto, during the academic year 2019-2020. From them, 25 students were conveniently selected. Their preparation on the epidemiology of COVID-19 in the newborn, its influence in breastfeeding and the handling of these cases was evaluated. An educational intervention was designed and put into practice, aimed to fix the theoretical deficiencies about the topic in question.

Results:

Higher percentage of students had an inadequate knowledge about the care of the newborn suspected to be or infected with COVID-19 (88%), improved in a 92% after the educational intervention.

Conclusions:

The theoretical deficiencies about the care of the newborn suspected to be or infected with COVID-19 found in the students confirms the need of educational work, in the form of an educational intervention to enrich their preparation, with emphasis in keeping the process of breastfeeding during the COVID-19 pandemic.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )