CLINICIANS & PROVIDERS
Achieving better
health outcomes
for patients
Clinicians and care providers in maternal and child health want the best health outcomes for children and families. On this page, you’ll find evidence-based information and upstream-focused resources to help center families in your care.
NICHQ and CLINICIANS & PROVIDERS
Improving the quality of care for every patient we serve
The National Institute for Children’s Health Quality has long partnered with and supported clinical care professionals, who are key influencers of patient experience and related health outcomes. From our early focus on the medical home and child health disciplines to our continual work on breastfeeding/safe sleep, newborn screening, and sickle cell disease, relationships with physicians, clinical care specialists, and hospital staff have been critical to our project success.
Our dedicated staff – many with degrees in public health and medicine themselves – understand that to affect positive change, especially at the scale of population health, there are no quick fixes. It takes dedicated, consistent effort at many different levels to produce lasting results.
Clinical care providers working at hospitals, health departments, and community-based organizations serve key roles on NICHQ project teams, as subject matter experts, advisors, and members of quality improvement initiatives. Through evidence-based approaches, collaborative hospital teams have worked to improve patient engagement, transition of care for pediatric patients to adult services, and respectful care for all patients.
Because we are deeply committed to our mission, we offer a variety of open access resources, in the form of webinars, reports, publications, and more. This page is curated with resources for clinical care providers who are interested in improving the quality of care they offer mothers and birthing people, their children, and their families. Use these resources in your practice and share with colleagues to facilitate wider improvements.
Resources by Health Topic
Publications
Community infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion
A mixed-methods study to improve population-level health outcomes
Though breastfeeding is a protective factor against sudden unexpected infant death, motivations to breastfeed often couple with unsafe infant sleep practices. Racial/ethnic disparities are present in sudden unexpected infant death, accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed, and breastfeeding. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between community-level strategies and associated state-level outcomes for infant safe sleep and breastfeeding.
Findings
We identified two mixed insights: gaps in promotion and outcomes, and persistent disparities between infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion and outcomes. Findings indicate conversational approaches could improve infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion, outcomes, and relative disparities. Community collaboration is needed to address organizational capacity limitations in promoting infant safe sleep and breastfeeding.
How to engage with NICHQ
Access resources in maternal child health
Does your organization need an all-in-one collaborative communication hub? Whether you’re looking to improve internal communications or to serve your clients, check out getting a CORAL of your own!
Get CORAL for your organization
Does your organization need an all-in-one collaborative communication hub? Whether you’re looking to improve internal communications or to serve your clients, check out getting a CORAL of your own!
Get CORAL for your organization
Does your organization need an all-in-one collaborative communication hub? Whether you’re looking to improve internal communications or to serve your clients, check out getting a CORAL of your own!
Webinars to Improve your Practice
Harnessing the Power of Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Families Affected by Substance Use Disorder in Pregnancy
Webinar on implementing Plans of Safe Care (POSC) to support infants, parents, and caregivers affected by substance use disorder.
Impact of Doulas on MCH
This webinar highlights doula benefits, Medicaid legislation, and their role in healthcare.
The Equity Exchange: Weathering + Equity Fatigue
Join us for a conversation about equity fatigue and weathering, where we’ll discuss strategies for maintaining momentum and engagement in equity initiatives.
Reducing Preterm Birth
Webinar on data collected as part of IM CoIIN to improve birth outcomes and decrease infant morality rates.
Resources for Clinicians & Providers
We’ve highlighted these specific resources for their relevance and practical application for medical care professionals.
NICHQ News
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NICHQ projects improving the quality of care
Learn about active and recent projects that engage clinical care providers.