Article Text
Abstract
Aims This project aims to identify current staff knowledgebase re: breastfeeding. It also aims to promote baby friendly standards and equip staff with knowledge to maintain standards.
Methods In order to assess current knowledge of breast feeding among doctors, we created a pre-intervention questionnaire as a marker for current breastfeeding knowledge. We aimed to retest our participants after they had completed the online UNICEF baby friendly breastfeeding module to ascertain whether the intervention improved knowledge on breast feeding and subsequently improve and promote the hospital’s baby friendly status.
We aimed to complete one PDSA cycle of the audit process to determine whether current practice could be improved by our intervention.
Results -56% doctors have a <50% baseline knowledge of breastfeeding benefits
−30% had formal breastfeeding training ranging from 2–4 years ago and majority face-to-face
-breast feeding application in clinical scenarios is good – preserve breast feeding and educate both parents and staff
-QIP uptake was poor – extend testing to Consultants and maternity team
Conclusion Our QIP showed the UNICEF online baby friendly module acted as a useful aid in breastfeeding teaching and should be recommended as part of mandatory induction training. Baby friendly awareness is vital to paediatric traning and our project helped to empower clinicians to promote and preserve breast feeding standards.