Improving Anesthesia Provider’s Understanding of Post-Anesthetic Breastfeeding Recommendations

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this project was to increase certified registered nurse anesthetists, physician anesthesiologists, and post-anesthesia care nurses understanding of evidence-based postanesthetic breastfeeding recommendations.Background. Education was developed to address the outdated practice of pumping-and-dumping human milk for 24 hours after an anesthetic. This practice causes undue stress on breastfeeding patients that may lead to early weaning. Methods. A quantitative quality improvement project was guided by the use of Rogers Diffusion of Innovation theory. A post-pre-Qualtrics survey was distributed via QR code to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational presentation and in determining intent to integrate the information into practice. Results. Ten participants completed the post-pre-survey for a response rate of 30% of the available certified registered nurse anesthetists and 10% of the available physician anesthesiologists. No post-anesthesia care nurses participated. Some 90% of the participants reported an increase in their baseline knowledge regarding post-anesthetic guidelines for breastfeeding patients. On a scale of 0-10, there was a 9.78 mean response of certified registered nurse anesthetists and a 9.00 response for physician anesthesiologists regarding likelihood of integrating education into their practice. Conclusions. Participants reported that they are very likely to implement the guidelines into their practice. This evidence supports the use of this educational presentation to effectively enhance the understanding of participants caring for breastfeeding patients undergoing anesthesia.