Date of Graduation

Fall 12-13-2024

Document Access

Project/Capstone - Global access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

College/School

School of Nursing and Health Professions

Program

MSN project

First Advisor

Scout E. Hebinck, MSN, RN-C

Abstract

Problem The influence of formula companies in hospitals has caused a decrease in national breastfeeding rates, increasing risks of adverse health outcomes among infants. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in 1991 to support breastfeeding practices for infant development and eliminate commercial interests of formula companies from hospitals. Context The quality improvement (QI) project was conducted at Hospital A’s Birth Center, serving a diverse population of patients in the greater East Bay of Northern California. The microsystem has 24 labor beds, 13 antepartum beds, and 33 postpartum beds. Aim The aim of this project is to increase the retention of BFHI-aligned education among postpartum mothers during hospitalization by 26.2%, raising it from 63.4% to 80% over an 11-week period, from September 19 to December 3, 2024. Intervention Staff feedback, literature review, and microsystem analysis highlighted areas of improvement in the current infant feeding education process. In response to the identified causes, a Baby-Friendly Patient Education Checklist was developed to standardize breastfeeding and infant feeding education, as well as streamline the nursing teaching process. Measures The checklist utilization rate was averaged by measuring the number of completed checklists to the total number of discharges. Patient comprehension was measured by calculating the rate of patients receiving education and the patient knowledge retention rate (KRR), both of which were obtained by averaging the number of correct responses to patient interviews covering BFHI steps 5, 6, 8, and 9. Results Implementation of the Baby-Friendly Patient Education Checklist resulted in a 94% rate of patients receiving education and a patient KRR of 82%. Conclusion Results determine that a standardized patient education checklist can improve knowledge retention of breastfeeding and infant feeding practices among patients.

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