Breastfeeding Residency Curriculum
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Breastfeeding is best for the health of infants and mothers. As more mothers are
choosing to breastfeed, physicians need to be trained to successfully support these
mothers. The American Academy of Pediatrics developed this Breastfeeding Residency
Curriculum to help residents develop confidence and skills in breastfeeding care.
This Web site is designed to help residency program directors and faculty incorporate
breastfeeding education into existing curriculum through implementation and evaluation
strategies, useful tools, and other trusted resources. It can be applied to Pediatric,
Family Medicine, Preventive Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Obstetric/Gynecologic
Residency Programs. The curriculum has been organized based on the Accreditation
Council for Graduate Medical Education Core Competencies. Included are goals and
objectives as well as planning, teaching and evaluation tools, prepared cases and
presentations, and suggested resources. This video explains how to use this site.
The curriculum is flexible. It can be implemented over 1 rotation, 1 year, or during
the entire length of residency. Go to the Implementation
Strategies page for examples of how some residency programs have implemented
The curriculum allows you to make choices. Whether you implement 1 activity or 20,
you are helping residents to develop confidence and skills to help breastfeeding
infants and mothers. The Essential Activities are the activities that you should
strive to complete with every resident. The Additional Activities are provided to
give more options if time allows. It is strongly urged that you evaluate residents
on these activities. Evaluation will help the residents know how they are doing
and will help you keep track of their progress. The evaluation tools are effective
in evaluating the residents as well as the breastfeeding residency curriculum as
a whole. Here are some examples of the tools included.
Collection Guide – This guide will help you to collect breastfeeding data at
your hospital at discharge and at 6 months.
- Pre- and Post-tests – The pre-test can be
given to residents to determine their baseline knowledge, confidence, and practice
patterns before they begin to learn about breastfeeding. The post-test can be given
to residents to determine their knowledge, confidence, and practice patterns after
they complete the breastfeeding education.
Resident Care Evaluation: ACGME Core Competencies –
This form can be used to measure the residents' proficiency in providing breastfeeding
care according to the ACGME Core Competencies.