First Advisor

Patricia Cullen

College

Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Division

Loretto Heights

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

65 pages

Abstract

Executive Summary

Making Breastfeeding Work for Medical Offices: A Six-Point Plan Proposal

Problem

The health benefits of breastfeeding, for both mother and child, has been researched, documented and acknowledged by experts and leaders of health. Identification of limited evidence-based lactation support for breastfeeding women and their children (the breastfeeding dyad) in primary care clinics/offices, has been noted as a major barrier to breastfeeding exclusivity and duration.

Purpose

Making Breastfeeding Work for Medical Offices: A Six-Point Plan has been devised to meet the needs of a busy office. The purpose of this project is to provide a streamlined, evidence-based breastfeeding support toolkit for medical providers of all levels caring for the breastfeeding dyad.

Goals

The goal of the project was to identify perceived barriers to providing evidence-based breastfeeding and lactation support in primary care offices and to provide a toolkit of evidenced-based education, resources, and guidance for busy medical offices.

Objectives

The first objective was to identify the perceived and actual barriers providers and clinics face with breastfeeding support. The next objective was the development of a streamlined, evidenced-based, breastfeeding support toolkit for medical providers of all levels caring for the breastfeeding dyad. Finally, the implementation of the toolkit in offices and certification as breastfeeding friendly medical office.

Plan

The Making Breastfeeding Work for Medical Offices: A Six-Point Plan, was piloted in four medical clinics in Boulder County Colorado. Each office performed the self-assessment then implemented the toolkit over four months, and did the self-test again for post implementation assessment. Two site visits, pre and post intervention, and a Lunch-and-Learn with basic breastfeeding education was done during the intervention. A quasi-experimental quantitative design using a convenience sample with a coded before and after survey. Each survey was compiled and evaluated for statistical comparison using t-test.

Outcomes and Results

Other countries, states, and professional boards have established a Baby-Friendly Office Initiative or Breastfeeding Friendly Community Clinic guidelines. These vary from 8-19 steps yet, research states that providers do not follow all the steps, and on average, only five to six steps after implementation. The most difficult step identified was the approval of a lactation/breastfeeding policy in each clinic- even with a generic policy included in the toolkit.

The clinics all verbally reported that the toolkit was easy to use and helpful to their offices. Over all, the intervention was successful with improvement in post-assessment scores compare to the pre-assessment p

Date of Award

Fall 2020

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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