Utilizing Lactation Acuity to Improve Lactation Services in a U.S. Hospital

National staffing guidelines for hospital lactation services do not account for the lactation acuity of breastfeeding patients. Higher acuity breastfeeding couplets require a higher level of knowledge and skill from lactation care providers. In these cases, a referral to an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) is recommended for appropriate management. Use of a lactation acuity classification system as a clinical practice innovation was implemented at Oklahoma University Medical Center to improve the distribution of staff resources for optimal care of breastfeeding patients. Lactation service reports from this facility, a tertiary care teaching hospital, were reviewed to evaluate staffing, number of lactation consults, reason for and acuity of consults, and time spent. The review included over 10,000 lactation consults completed over a 1-year period. Once the lactation acuity system for IBCLC staff was in place, there was an increased mean direct consult time and acuity level with 85% of IBCLC time allocated to high acuity consults. Trained bedside nurses handled most low-acuity patients. The percentage of patients needing a lactation consult who received one increased along with the number of consults per patient. Data on time spent per consult were stratified by acuity, location, and reason for consult, including details on priority consults for neonatal intensive care unit patients. The productivity of the lactation team was higher with the use of a lactation acuity system compared to without it. The data reported support the use of lactation acuity in making recommendations for staffing of hospital lactation services.