Breastfeeding Curriculum

Why use this curriculum?

  • Breastfeeding is best for the health of infants and mothers.
  • As more mothers are choosing to breastfeed, more physicians need to have the skills to support them.
  • Being able to successfully handle any issue related to breastfeeding leads to a stronger doctor-patient bond, and better outcomes.
  • When families get the help they need, the more we reduce health disparities that impact infants from the start.

This curriculum was developed to help all residents develop confidence and skills in breastfeeding care.

Presentations, videos, case studies and other resources can be incorporated into existing Pediatric, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetric/Gynecologic and other residency or fellowship program curricula. Parts of the curriculum may be appropriate for medical school, advanced practice provider and allied health curricula.

Webinar - Implementing the Breastfeeding Curriculum - April 18th, 2024

The Breastfeeding Curriculum

Select a curriculum topic below to get started.

Medical Knowledge

Learners will understand the anatomy of the breast, the physiology of lactogenesis and the challenges of breastfeeding.

Patient Care

Learners will be able to educate families about breastfeeding, provide peripartum breastfeeding support for routine care and common problems, recognize and be able to address breastfeeding challenges and special situations after discharge and throughout infancy and understand the unique needs of LGBTQ+ families as it relates to infant feeding.

System Based Practice

Learners will be able to coordinate services with other professionals, laypersons and community groups, consistent with an interprofessional and team-based approach to care.

Practice Based Learning

Learners will investigate breastfeeding rates, identify and describe site-specific disparities in breastfeeding rates and implement a quality improvement project on breastfeeding rates.

Interpersonal Communication Skills

Learners will communicate effectively with patients, families and other medical providers regarding breastfeeding.

    


Guide to Curriculum

The curriculum has been organized based on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Core Competencies. Whether you implement 1 activity or 20, you are helping trainees to develop confidence and skills to help breastfeeding infants and families.

Each curriculum topic has the following structure:

Essential Activities

The Essential Activities are what you should strive to complete with every resident.

Additional Activities

The Additional Activities are provided to give more options if time allows. It is strongly encouraged that you evaluate residents on these activities.

Evaluation

Evaluation will help residents know how they are doing and will help you keep track of their progress. The evaluation tools are effective in evaluating residents as well as the breastfeeding residency curriculum as a whole.



Helpful Tools

The following tools are here to help you along the way.

Data Collection Guide

Data Collection Tool: This guide will help you to collect breastfeeding data at your hospital at discharge and at 6 months.
Launch Tool

Patient Care Evaluation: ACGME Core Competencies

Evaluation Tool: This form can be used to measure the residents' proficiency in providing breastfeeding care according to the ACGME Core Competencies.
Launch Tool

Objective Structured Clinical Examination Case Study

Teaching Tool: This case study can be used to evaluate the resident's ability to communicate with a mother during a visit. It encompasses many of the skills that will have been learned throughout the curriculum and would be useful as a live cumulative exam.*
Launch Tool

Breastfeeding Curriculum Resources

This page outlines resources included in all five of the Breastfeeding Curriculum modules.
View Resources

Residency or school faculty: Tell us about your program's current breastfeeding education.

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