4 |
P a g e
Handy Hints from Alys
and Kate
Actively encourage
women to accept the
referral – A referral to
stop smoking services
is best practice and is
as important as a
referral to a diabetes
or antenatal clinic.
Show women what NRT
looks and feels like
and explain how to
use it. Then check
their understanding
and fill in the gaps.
Explain that NRT gives only clean nicotine
which is much less harmful than smoking.
Nicotine does not cause oxygen deprivation
to the placenta and does not contain the
hundreds of toxic chemicals contained in
cigarette smoke.
Explain that smoking reduces the amount of
oxygen getting to the placenta and to the
baby. This means that babies get used to less
oxygen and so becomes high risk for Sudden
Unexplained Infant Death. If the baby gets
accidently covered by a blanket, gets into an
awkward position, is too close to a pillow
and has restricted oxygen - it is used to less
oxygen and high levels of CO2 and will just
slip away from lack of oxygen. A baby not
exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy
will wake up, cry, move about and fight for
more oxygen.
_________________________________________
Tupeka Kore Framework –
Smokefree ERB
(Elizabeth Rothwell Building)
The Waikato Smokefree Maternity Group
is a sub
group of the Waikato Maternity Quality and Safety
Programme Governance Board. The Group have
been busy developing the
Hapu Mama Smokefree
Pregnancies Tupeka Kore Framework
, a stepped
change management framework to improve quit
support provided by maternity services. The
framework has been implemented at Waikato
Hospital Maternity Services and will be progressively
rolled out to small hospitals, birthing centres and
midwives.
“We desperately need to improve the quality of
services that we give to pregnant women who
smoke and are in a hospital setting. We need to
improve how we help women with nicotine
withdrawal while they stay in hospital and we need
to ensure that women go home with NRT and a
referral to stop smoking services. The Tupeka Kore
Framework will make sure this happens every time.
”
The Women’s Assessment Unit (WAU) staff started
the ball rolling by ensuring all WAU staff have had a
brief update on stop smoking support, NRT use and
referral. WAU also led the successful
Stoptober
events in the Elizabeth Rothwell Building (ERB) and
helped patients, staff and visitors sign up to local
stop smoking services for support to quit.
A baseline patient ABC audit
is part of the stage one
or incubation phase of the Hapu Mama Smokefree
Pregnancies Tupeka Kore Framework. Initial results
are concerning. Of 38 pregnant women who were
admitted to Waikato Hospital and who smoked, only
21% were given NRT and 8% were referred to stop
smoking services. One of the goals of the Tupeka
Kore Framework is that at least 95% of pregnant
patients who smoke will be charted NRT. We will
keep you in touch with progress toward meeting
that goal.
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