Patrica Benner’s Theory, Essay Example

Among Perinatal Unit nurses will implementing an educational program to enhance their knowledge and skills for lactation management as compared to pre-test knowledge assist with increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates of postpartum mothers during their stay in hospital?

The Change theory of nursing, by Kurt Lewin, entails a dynamic balance of forces that work in opposite directions. This theory is founded on three main concepts, (1) driving force, (2) restraining force, and (3) equilibrium. These three main concepts embody the three stages of the theory, (1) unfreeze, (2) freeze, and (3) refreeze (Roussel, 2013). This theory is clearly evident in the application of a lactation management educational program in postpartum mothers during their stay in hospital. The perinatal unit is one that experiences numerous challenges.

Low Lactation Rates within the First Month of Birth

The perinatal unit nurses are crucial for ensuring an effective mother-child relationship. They achieve this by providing essential information on the best practices to enhance infant survival and growth within the first month of live birth. Perinatal nurses have noticed an increase in the number of infant health complications that result from little to no exclusive breastfeeding within the first year of child birth.

Nurses have found it considerably difficult to increase the rates of exclusive breastfeeding for postpartum mothers during their stay in hospital. They have noted this through observation of the duration of uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact between mother and child after birth. Most of the nurses are adequately trained and qualified to handle postpartum issues and vary in their age, level of experience and position held. Most of the nurses are of Level I and Level II perinatal care and vary in their age, while some of the nurses are fairly-to-well experienced in perinatal care, a considerable number have less than 5 years of experience.

It is essential to determine whether the patient has been breastfeeding the infant adequately. This is because lack of proper and regular breastfeeding usually leads to painful inflammation of the breasts. Simply breastfeeding the infant may give the patient relief from the pain.

Implementation

I plan to implement a change process on the perinatal unit to aid in breastfeeding support.  The process will include implementing the ten steps of breastfeeding success by embarking on the Baby Friendly Initiative Journey.  Educating the nursing staff regarding current lactation management is a key element.  My project goal is to increase knowledge for the nurses as well as increase exclusive breastfeeding rates.

Comparison of Interest

The implementation of the baby friendly Initiative would effectively increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding. There exists the alternative of using pre-test knowledge to achieve the desired goal. Relying on pre-test knowledge would provide nurses the opportunity to apply their acquired knowledge to increase breastfeeding rates in the perinatal unit. However, there exist one major flaw with this design. Pre-test knowledge may vary from one nurse to another. This is largely related to the level of education and experience at work.

Pre-test knowledge disregards the existence of a number of variables that would make the implementation of this knowledge difficult. There exist a number of variables that are unique to every child-birth case.

Outcome of Interest

The institutional changes that are embodied in the application of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is expected to effectively increase the initiation of breastfeed and the duration rates. The training program is expected to fully implement all ten steps defined in BFHI to increase and augment optimal maternity care practices. This is expected to record an increase in exclusive breastfeeding and reduce the rates of supplemental feeds for newborns.

The training program is also expected to reduce the rate at which new mother are introduced to infant formula. It is expected that there will be an increase on the number of primiparous mothers (first-time-mothers) who engage in exclusive breastfeeding during their stay in hospital and in the first-few months after child birth.

Design

The study will entail four distinct phases. Each phase is designed to achieve a specific goal.

Discovery: this step is designed to help collect information on the current rates of breastfeeding, especially exclusive breastfeeding within the perinatal unit.

Development: this phase entails the development of a plan to realize the ten steps to successful breastfeeding embodied in BFHI. This will also entail the identification of the level and type of technical assistance that will be required to realize the application of the ten steps to successful breastfeeding.

Dissemination: this entails the implementation of the tens steps to successful breastfeed. During this phase, extensive data will be collected and the results will be matched against the Baby-Friendly USA Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria. During this stage, adequate quality improvement measures and techniques will be applied as data is collected and compared against the guidelines envisioned in BFHI.

Designation: this phase entails the continuation of the quality improvement program. As soon as implementation of all the set guidelines and evaluation criteria is complete, the assessment process is initiated. A series of assessments are completed using a number of tools, including and not limited to document reviews, interviews and observation. A successful implementation of the BFHI guidelines would be defined by the effective and full implementation of the international code of breast milk marketing as well as the ten steps to successful breastfeeding.

Feasibility

The study defines by the four distinct phases is feasible relative to the required 16-week timeframe for intervention. The study can be effectively implemented within 10 to 12 weeks of initiation. This is well within the provided time limit for intervention. The procedures defined within the study would consume a considerable amount of time during the first two stages.

Rationale

The selected strategy, the lactation management educational program is effectively suited for the issue at hand, increasing the rates of lactation within the first month of live birth. The lactation program focuses on influencing and affecting the behavioral pattern adopted by breastfeeding mothers within the first month of live birth as opposed to the processes. Focusing on meeting the rising needs of patients, relative to conditions that are specific to the patient.

The proposed education program targets at providing high quality healthcare by improving the skills, knowledge and experience of post-partum care nurses. This in-house employee training and development program will employs existing resources, structures and systems within the health organization to improve the standards of healthcare services rendered to the patients.

Identification and Application

The system defined above is designed to target perinatal unit nurses to implement the desired change, increase in their knowledge and skills of lactation management. Through all phases, the design would effectively achieve the desired and/or expected outcomes as defined by the BFHI standards.

The Change Theory

The perinatal unit nurses are crucial for ensuring an effective mother-child relationship. They achieve this by providing essential information on the best practices to enhance infant survival and growth within the first month of live birth. Previous experience in my nursing practice saw perinatal nurses notice an increase in the number of infant health complications that resulted from little to no exclusive breastfeeding within the first year of child birth.

In order to effectively implement a lactation education program, element of the change theory have to be taken into consideration. The change theory is evident in the four distinct phases of the implementation of an effective lactation education program. In the implementation of an effective lactation education program, the four stages coincide with the three stages of the change theory.

Discovery: this step is designed to help collect information on the current rates of breastfeeding, especially exclusive breastfeeding within the perinatal unit. This is the unfreezing stage.

Development: this phase entails the development of a plan to realize the ten steps to successful breastfeeding embodied in BFHI. This will also entail the identification of the level and type of technical assistance that will be required to realize the application of the ten steps to successful breastfeeding. This is part of the change stage.

Dissemination: this entails the implementation of the tens steps to successful breastfeed. During this phase, extensive data will be collected and the results will be matched against the Baby-Friendly USA Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria. This is part of the change stage.

Designation: this phase entails the continuation of the quality improvement program. As soon as implementation of all the set guidelines and evaluation criteria is complete, the assessment process is initiated. This is the refreezing stage (Wambach & Riordan, 2014).

Ethical Aspects of the LMEP

The lactation management education program (LMEP) has a number of ethical issues that are associated with the issue of lactation management. One of the most significant is the manner in which breastfeeding can be supported when cultural values tend to brand it as a shameful subject whose promotion induces feelings of guilt (Noel-Weiss, Cragg, & Woodend, 2012). One of the most important tools of supplementing a breast milk for an infant is the use of formula. While this may act as an alternative, it is ethically questionable for nurse to provide breastfeeding mothers with formula milk.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is an inherent need for the development of an education program to improve the rate of lactation for newborns within the first month of birth. The perinatal unit nurses are crucial for ensuring an effective mother-child relationship. They achieve this by providing essential information on the best practices to enhance infant survival and growth within the first month of live birth. The study defines by the four distinct phases is feasible relative to the required 16-week timeframe for intervention. In order to effectively implement a lactation education program, element of the change theory have to be taken into consideration. The change theory is evident in the four distinct phases of the implementation of an effective lactation education program. The lactation management educational program is effectively suited for the issue at hand, increasing the rates of lactation within the first month of live birth.

References

Noel-Weiss, J., Cragg, B., & Woodend, K. A. (2012). Exploring how IBCLCs manage ethical dilemmas: a qualitative study. BMC Medical Ethics, 13(18), 13-18.

Roussel, L. (2013). Management and leadership for nurse administrators. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Wambach, K., & Riordan, J. (2014). Breastfeeding and human lactation. Burlington: Breastfeeding and human lactation.