I did a chart review to gather breastfeeding statistics to compare the
rates before and after our program's interventions were put in place.
This was for a program for outpatients of the Pediatric and Family
Practice offices that are owned by my hospital.  But you could do a
similar study for your impatient program.

We started our interventions in June of 1996.  I got a computer
print-out of all the babies that were born and entered the practice from
6/95-12/95.  That way they were at least 6 months old at the time of the
study.  We had the office staff pull a statistical sample number of
charts and record if the babies were still breastfeeding at each regular
well-baby appointment - birth, 2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months, and 6
months.  We did not quantify breastfeeding.  If the mom reported the
baby was still breastfeeding, it was a "Yes".  So we were looking at any
breastfeeding.

After the interventions were in place for one year, we repeated the
process for babies born from 6/96-12/96.  This study was done in October
1997.  We then compared the percentages. We did not study all the
offices.  We picked 3 - an innercity, city, and suburban location.  We
did not look at all the charts, but picked a sample size (as indicated
by a table I had) based on the number of new babies for each location.

In the analysis I compared them to their own percentages from the
previous year, to each other, and to Healthy People 2000 Goals.

Becareful not to have too short a time-frame for your study group.
Month-to-month percentages can change up or down inspite of your
interventions, not necessarily because of them.  Six months gave us a
good range.

I'd be happy to answer and further questions about this...After I get
back from Boca Raton!!!!!

Barb Berges BS, RN, IBCLC
Rochester, New York