Are you getting a good education about preventing SIDS?

[janecirelli]

dear nursing student,

my name is jane cirelli and i am a neonatal nurse practitioner in york, pa. i am participating in a nursing research group studying sids and infant sleep safety. i am writing to you to ask for your assistance in a vital research project involving nursing student education. research has shown that the majority of pediatric and obstetric health care providers feel that they have not received adequate training in the area of infant sleep safety. our own data have confirmed these findings, but also produced an unexpected finding: that the most experienced nurses knew the most about infant sleep safety while the newest graduates knew the least. this finding has led our research group to study how nursing educators teach their students about infant sleep safety and what the students are taking away from their education.

currently over 4500 infants die suddenly and unexpectedly in the us each year and in up to 90% of these deaths the infant is found in an unsafe sleep environment. consistent modeling by nursing staff in maternity can increase the use of the supine sleep position for infants by 50% in the home environment. use of the supine position has decreased sids deaths by 53%.

we would greatly appreciate it if you would participate in our irb-approved study by completing the survey (it will take about 10 minutes to complete) by accessing the link below (if you cannot clink on the link then copy and paste the address). it does not matter whether you have taken mother-infant courses yet. students who have not participated in their pediatric or obstetric studies will serve as our control group for comparison to those students who have undergone your school's curriculum involving infant care.

anybody who chooses to participate will be enrolled in a raffle for a pandora charm bracelet with a retail value of $360. please note that all questionnaires will be completely anonymous. participants may voluntarily add the school name. this information will be used to provide schools with feedback that could be used in preparing future curricula.

i understand how important everybody's time is. in addition to providing your school with feedback, we would be happy to provide your institution with information on our hospital-based, community-wide infant sleep safety program. thank you so much for your time and attention in this matter.

best regards,

jane cirelli, crnp

[email protected]

link to questionnaire: http://content.wellspan.org/infant_safe_sleep.htm