Workgroup Tips and Procedures

You may find that you need to create a workgroup to move the idea of creating or revising a breastfeeding and lactation policy forward and, in the future, for implementation. This workgroup may include the following representatives:

• Residency program director
• Attending faculty member (residency program)
• Nursing, preferably with lactation certification
• Medical trainees
• Representative from the medical school (e.g., student affairs, academic affairs, faculty member)
• Human Resources
• ACGME DIO

Below are some things to consider when you are organizing and communicating with the workgroup.

• Establish a leader for the workgroup who will preside over the meetings and set regular meeting dates. A recurring meeting to help keep everyone on task may be helpful. Groups can also utilize online communication tools such as listservs, a Teams or Slack Channel, or others, to share information between meeting sessions.
• Review existing breastfeeding and lactation support policies, if available. Contact the institution’s HR department or Graduate Medical Education (GME administration) to receive any relevant policies that are in place. The workgroup can then review and determine if they need to be revised or rewritten.
• Agree on a vision. What should breastfeeding and lactation support for medical trainees look like at your institution? To inform your vision, review the results from your institution pre-survey to see your scores in Policy Clarity, Facilities, Protected Time, Culture of Support, and Clarity of Staff Roles as well as the medical trainee survey results.
• Identify and prioritize organizational issues. What challenges does your institution face that keeps it from that vision? Which of those challenges is the top priority to overcome? Who are the players that can help you to overcome these challenges, and how can you get them to the table?
• Set team goals. What result does the workgroup want to achieve in each domain?
• Develop strategies to accomplish goals. What strategies will the workgroup use to achieve the desired results?
• Determine necessary tasks. Break each strategy down into tasks. Who will be responsible for each task? What deadline is required for each? What resources are needed?

Helpful Resources to Structure Progress

Download the following worksheets to help develop policy implementation action plans.

• Priorities & Goals worksheet
• Strategy & Tasks worksheet
• Action Plan Template