Breastfeeding Education in the Time of COVID-19

Breastfeeding Education in the Time of COVID-19. Hybrid Telesimulation With Standardized Patients for Pediatric and Family Medicine Trainees, a Randomized Trial

This project will establish that pediatric and family medicine residents who complete a hybrid breastfeeding medicine curriculum that includes an asynchronous unfolding case scenario along with telesimulation with a standardized patient (SP) will provide timely, skilled lactation support more frequently than residents randomized to an asynchronous unfolding case scenario followed by videoconference group discussion regarding care for the breastfeeding dyad.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Breastfeeding; Educational Problems; Breastfeeding, Exclusive; Breastfeeding Jaundice
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Telesimulation

Detailed Description

1. Establish that pediatric and family medicine residents who complete a novel breastfeeding medicine curriculum that includes an online unfolding case scenario along with telemedicine simulation with a standardized patient (SP) will provide timely, skilled lactation support more frequently than residents randomized to an online unfolding case scenario followed by traditional didactic breastfeeding case-presentation via videoconference.
2. Establish that online learning via unfolding case scenario and telemedicine simulation with a SP will be feasible for family medicine and pediatric residents to complete during their newborn nursery rotation.

Intern and third year residents completing their newborn nursery rotation at UC Davis Medical Center will be cluster-randomized by rotation month to receipt of breastfeeding education via telesimulation with standardized patient or traditional case-based learning via videoconferencing with pediatric faculty. The primary outcome of this study will be the translation of clinical lactation skills to the care of breastfeeding mothers and newborns. I hypothesize that pediatric and family medicine residents randomized to complete the telesimulation with SP will translate their acquired clinical lactation skills to the care of breastfeeding mothers and newborns at a greater rate than residents who complete a videoconference case-based traditional curriculum discussion with a newborn nursery pediatrician.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 46
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Sacramento, California, United States, 95817
      • University of California - Davis

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 16 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

1. Inclusion Criteria: Pediatric and Family Medicine resident physicians at UC Davis Medical Center
2. Exclusion criteria: Individuals who are unable to communicate in English, Individuals who do not have access to videoconferencing via computer or phone.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Traditional education; Participants in the control group will complete an online unfolding case scenario. Then these same participants will participate in a videoconferencing case based lecture with the academic pediatric fellow	Behavioral: Telesimulation; Telesimulation educational intervention
Experimental: Telesimulation; Participants in the intervention group will complete an online unfolding case scenario. Then these participants will complete a telesimulation case with a standardized patient via video conferencing.	Behavioral: Telesimulation; Telesimulation educational intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in practice patterns	Breastfeeding medicine practice patterns of physician residents will be assessed at enrollment and following the intervention/control. Physician resident participants will complete a survey querying the number of times they have counseled patients about breastfeeding, the number of breast examinations performed, the number of witnessed breastfeeding sessions, and any experience with counseling about manual expression of breast milk.	at enrollment, 2 weeks and 3 months following intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self efficacy	Physician residents (participants) will fill out a survey about their breastfeeding counseling self efficacy prior to and after the intervention.	at enrollment, 2 weeks and 3 months following intervention
Satisfaction with simulation	Physician residents (participants) will fill out a survey about their satisfaction with the breast feeding medicine curriculum after the educational intervention.	Immediately following the educational intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, Davis
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Adrienne Hoyt-Austin, DO, University of California, Davis

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 31, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 30, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): December 10, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 12, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 18, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): August 19, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 15, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 13, 2021
• Last Verified: December 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Skin Manifestations; Hyperbilirubinemia; Jaundice
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1613611-2

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No