Knowledge and Practices Related to Hip-Healthy Swaddling for Newborns Among Maternity Nurses

To assess the self-reported knowledge, education, and practices related to hip-healthy swaddling of newborns among nurses, how they teach this technique to parents, and the relationships among these factors.

Descriptive cross-sectional exploratory survey.

Academic women and children's hospital with an average of 4,500 annual births.

One hundred four registered maternity nurses who work primarily in the maternity unit.

At three staff meetings, we surveyed maternity nurses to determine their knowledge, education, and practices related to hip-healthy swaddling and how they teach this technique to parents. We analyzed results using descriptive statistics and chi-square and Fisher's exact tests.

Of the 156 nurses in the maternity unit, 104 attended three staff meetings and completed the survey. Among the participants, 18.9% (18/95; 9 participants did not respond) were unable to identify the correct hip swaddling position. Overall, 64.2% (61/95; 9 participants did not respond) reported that they received education on general swaddling technique, yet 14.8% (9/61) of these participants were unable to identify the correct hip-healthy swaddling position. Among the participants, 99.0% (103/104) reported that nurses teach parents how to swaddle infants rather than other health care providers; 12.5% (13/104) of participants responded that medical doctors provide training as well. Overall, 67.0% (69/103; 1 participant did not respond) reported that they taught parents in >75% of parent interactions.

Our results illustrate a gap in knowledge about hip-healthy swaddling among the maternity nurses who participated in this survey and a need for further education.