Samantha, a mother and survivor of opioid misuse, illustrates why centering conversations around families’ needs and experiences can change health outcomes. Keep reading for resources and ideas on shifting conversations about breastfeeding, safe sleep and patient-provider care.
Listen and Learn, Don’t Dictate
Telling mothers to breastfeed isn’t enough. Pausing and really listening lets mothers share the real challenges they face. Once health professionals understand those challenges, they can provide individualized, realistic support. That’s why we’re devoting an upcoming webinar to helping health professionals have these meaningful conversations.
Interested in making the webinar as valuable as possible? Complete our survey on the challenges you’ve heard mothers share. And be sure to sign up for our mailing list to receive the webinar announcement.
Improve Education, Change Outcomes
Families face so much confusion about safe sleep practices, from conflicting public images to contradictory online articles. Better education through supportive conversations can help prevent thousands of infant deaths a year. NICHQ’s safe sleep video quiz, How Safe Sleep Savvy Are You?, is a teaching tool to inspire those conversations so health professionals can address the confusion and save babies.
Interested in more safe sleep conversation strategies? View this article on building trust and addressing disparities.
Tap into Family Advisors
The more pediatric practices know about the families they serve, the better their services will be. A patient and family advisory council, PFAC for short, brings patients and providers together to engage in conversations around improving service delivery. This article gives you four steps to get started.
