Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite many health benefits to infants, the overall breastfeeding rate remains low among Serbian women. The community pharmacists' efforts aimed at supporting nursing mothers are important. The aim of the study was an evaluation of the pharmacists' training for breastfeeding support and their perception about its usefulness. The second aim was an evaluation of the provided structured pharmaceutical care service (SPS) over four months, through a calculation of theoretical cost savings for counseled families in case of the risk for introduction of commercial milk formula (CMF). METHODS: The continuation of breastfeeding instead of starting with CMF was theoretically monetized through cost savings analysis, which is based on energy equivalent human milk and CMF, regardless of the differences in health, social and ecology outcomes of breastfeeding. Cost savings for the counseled families were calculated as financial differences between continuing breastfeeding and switching to CMF. RESULTS: The 256 pharmacists showed high satisfaction rates with the quality and the usefulness of the training (mean scores: content value 4.89 ± 0.51, technical value 4.91 ± 0.41, program value 4.96 ± 0.20, and usefulness value 4.94 ± 0.25, respectively), as well as a statistically significant higher level of knowledge (p < 0.001 for each of the 10 questions). The prospective observational study enrolled 256 community pharmacists who voluntarily underwent training aimed to breastfeeding support. Of all the trained pharmacists, 151 (59%) actively provided 1,243 SPS focused on breastfeeding support. Of all, 599 mothers of children under 6 months of age received SPS, while 590 provided full data In 275 cases (22.1%), a risk for early breastfeeding cessation was identified. The average age of children whose mothers had undergone SPS was 2.83 months, and the total average potential cost savings until 6 months of children age was 35,884.80 RSD (approximately 306 EUR) for average of 3.17 months. CONCLUSIONS: The training of pharmacists adds significant value to their knowledge and skills for breastfeeding support, which may lead to potential cost savings for families.