Vol. 4, Issue 11, Part C (2018)

Materials and methods: The non experimental descriptive observational study was conducted among eighty staff nurses who are working in obstetric and pediatric care units of selected Hospital in Ernakulam District, Kerala, South India. Structured Observation Checklist was used to collect data regarding practice adherence of staff nurses on BFHI guidelines. The data were analyzed using statistical package R software.

Results: The study revealed that more than half (51%) of the study participants were found to have poor practice adherence with respect to BFHI guidelines. The practice adherence was poor with regard to provision of information on benefits and management of breast feeding on first contact with mother (3.8%) and demonstration of expression of breast milk (10%). More than half (51.20%) exhibited poor adherence on demonstrating correct positioning for breastfeeding whereas 45% showed satisfactory practice adherence in terms of correct nipple attachment/ latch on for breast feeding.

The practice adherence score was significantly associated with age (p=0.02), number of children (p=0.03), personal experience in breastfeeding (p=0.01), educational qualification (p=0.01), years of experience in Obstetric and Pediatric wards (p<0.001) and attendance to CNE on BFHI or breastfeeding in last five years (p=0.003).

Conclusion: Practice adherence on BFHI guidelines was found to be poor among staff nurses.

Clinical significance: Uninterrupted practice-development training to all health care professionals may be essential to develop more sustainable breastfeeding outcomes in hospitals and health-care centers.