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

Objective: 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.

Design: Descriptive cross-sectional exploratory survey.

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

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

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.