Nursing students: Training and maintaining universal newborn hearing screening knowledge

The purpose of the study was to obtain information concerning the effectiveness of a training program to equip nursing students in administering universal newborn hearing screening procedures, correctly recording results and clearly explaining outcomes to parent/guardians. First semester and third semester nursing students completed the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM) Utah State University™ Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) training as an in-class assignment. Students were surveyed and knowledge assessed prior to and post training. Overall results showed that all student benefited from the training. •There is a need for nurses to understand universal newborn hearing screening procedures.•Universal newborn screening training was found to be effective for nursing students.•Results decreased following five months post training illustrating the need for continuing education.