PROFESSIONAL. Practice improvement, breastfeeding duration and health visitors.

The primary purpose of practice improvement is to improve clinical practice through changing the behaviour of healthcare professionals. Breastfeeding is a key public health issue, conferring benefits associated with both infant and maternal health, yet breastfeeding rates in the UK and Ireland are among the lowest in Western Europe. In this paper, the ways in which practice improvement can be utilised to enhance both efficiency and effectiveness are described, using a case study of the potential contribution of health visitors to increasing breastfeeding duration in primary care in order to illustrate this in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]