• Nour A Al-Sawalha, Abeer Sawalha, Linda Tahaineh, Basima Almomani, and Maha Al-Keilani.
• a Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy , Jordan University of Science and Technology , Irbid , Jordan.
• J Obstet Gynaecol. 2018 Feb 1; 38 (2): 217-221.

AbstractMedication use among women who have recently given birth is unavoidable in some situations. The aim of this study was to assess the attitude and knowledge of healthcare providers (HCPs) in Jordan about the safe use of medications during breastfeeding. The data were collected from HCPs in maternal and children care centres and hospitals from April 2015 to January 2016, using a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 904 HCPs (79.3%) were enrolled in the study. Half of the participants followed the World Health Organisation's and American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations. The awareness of HCPs regarding these recommendations was lower among nurses (OR 0.212, 95%CI 0.132-0.338, p < .001) and pharmacists (OR 0.476, 95%CI 0.297-0.763, p = .002) than physicians. The majority of participants (80%) had low level of knowledge and nurses were more likely to have low knowledge than physicians (OR 0.099, 95%CI 0.050-0.197, p < .001). Professional continuous education programmes were highly encouraged. Impact statement What is already known on this subject: Use of medications among women who have recently given birth is unavoidable in some situations and most of them are safe to be given during breastfeeding. What the results of this study add: Healthcare providers in Jordan have variable attitudes regarding the safety of medication use during breastfeeding. The majority of healthcare providers have a low level of knowledge regarding the safe use of medication during breastfeeding. Nurses are more likely to have low knowledge as compared to physicians.

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