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Date: | Tue, 14 Jul 1998 20:10:43 -0400 |
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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
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