The Effect of an Educational Campaign on the Post-Natal Rooming-in Practicing Rate

By LING Chui Sze Tracy RN, RM, IBCLC, BSc, MSc (Nursing), Department of Obstetrics/27F

Background

Rooming In:

  • Hospital practice where post-natal mothers and normal infants stay together in the same room for 24 hours a day from the time they arrive in their room after delivery1

Benefits of Rooming In:

  • Cost effective
  • Lowers the rate of cross infection
  • Supports breastfeeding
  • Encourages the attachment between the mother and the baby

Clinical Significant

  • Maternal request on admission
  • Included rooming-in in their birth plan
  • Increased enquiries about rooming-in practice
  • Maternal concerns about current practices
  • Unable to understand the baby’s behaviour
  • Lack confidence to care for their babies
  • Cannot identify the baby’s feeding cues

Purpose and Problem Statement

How does the nursing education campaign affect the rooming-in practicing rate of postpartum mothers?

Implementation Plan

Stage I (Before campaign) - Baseline data

  • From 15-5-2019 to 14-6-2019

Stage II - Educational campaign

  • From 15-6-2019 to 14-7-2019
  • Antenatal talk
  • Staff education
  • Leaflet

Results

Stage III (After campaign) - Post-data

  • The rooming in rates went from 0% to 21.4%.

 

Recommendations and Next Steps

  1. Educational campaigns increase the rooming-in practicing rate
  2. Promotion is one of the keys
  3. Patient education is important
  4. Still room for improvement
  5. 0% to 21.4%

Next Steps:

  • Poster
  • Booklet
  • Introduce rooming-in to all single room mothers by named nurses

Long term goals:

  • Increase the rooming-in rate in single room mother