2.2. Data collection

The questionnaire was designed by ourselves. Through consulted relevant books and literature, and revised by 5 experts from the China Maternal and Child Health Association Midwifery Branch, we formed the questionnaire of “Questionnaire on the use of oral intake management measures” (Table ​(Table1).1). The 5 experts had worked in the obstetrics department or delivery room for >20 years. The questionnaire included 2 parts: the basic information of the hospital, the specific implementation of the oral intake management measures. The Cronbach α coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.822.

Questionnaire on the use of oral intake management measures.

The questionnaire survey was conducted on the Internet platform. Before the survey, the main person in charge of this subject trained the investigators in filling in the questionnaire, matters needing attention in reviewing, quality inspection of the questionnaire, and so on. The trained investigator sent the questionnaire via email or WeChat to the head nurse of obstetrics or delivery room of each medical institution, and answered the questions related to the questionnaire by phone and email. The same investigator reviewed the questionnaire. To ensure the authenticity of the data, each IP address set in the background of the questionnaire can only submit the questionnaire once, and the questionnaire with obvious logical errors would be eliminated. Finally, 1254 questionnaires were sent out, and 1213 effective questionnaires were recovered. The effective recovery rate was 96.73%.

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.