Presenter Profile
Christie Lawrence, DNP, RNC-NIC, APN/CNS
Rush University College of Nursing
Birth Hospital Outreach Coordinator, CPASS Chicago
Cook County SUID Case Registry and Prevention
Christie Lawrence DNP, RNC-NIC, APN/CNS is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Women, Children, and Family Nursing at Rush University. She received a DNP in nursing from Rush University and has over 24 years of clinical experience caring for mothers and critically ill infants which solidifies her passion for providing equitable and just care for birthing families. Dr. Lawrence seeks to expand best practices in maternal-child health that promote equity and social justice and decrease morbidity and mortality in African American birthing people and their newborns through improving birthing practices and breastfeeding in African American families, developmental care, and safe sleep to decrease SUID. Her interest in improving outcomes is both professional and personal as she lost a close family member in childbirth due to negligence. She currently serves as a co-chairperson on the Rush University Children's Hospital Safe Sleep Taskforce, and is the Birth Hospital Outreach Education Coordinator for the Cook County SUID Case Registry and Prevention, additionally serving on CPASS Chicago's prevention team. She teaches and mentors General Entry Master’s Nursing students and Clinical Nurse Specialist students at the doctoral level.
Presentations
Way Beyond the ABC’s: Tailoring Safe Sleep Training for Community Health Agencies
Felicia Clark, D-ABMDI
Christie Lawrence, DNP, RNC-NIC, APN/CNS
Gina Lowell, MD, MPH
Following extensive dissemination of the Cook County SUID Case Registry (SUID-CR) data and Community Partnership Approaches for Safe Sleep (CPASS Chicago) prevention efforts, CPASS Chicago was asked to provide safe sleep training to the City of Chicago’s postpartum home visiting nurses. This invitation spurred our efforts to replicate and expand CPASS Chicago’s approach with families and community members to reach community health partners supporting pregnant and parenting families.
This workshop will provide an overview of the CPASS Chicago approach and lessons learned in tailoring Safe Sleep training to specific community health agency roles and needs. We will share our experience training home visiting nurses, doulas, social workers and WIC providers. We will discuss the value of 1) sharing local epidemiology coupled with individualized SUID case review, 2) describing barriers to safe sleep among specific populations served by community health agencies, 3) listening to community health partners’ experiences within their community, 4) encouraging community health partners to consider their role in SUID prevention, and 5) using a trauma-informed, strengths-based, relational approach.
We will then break out into 3 groups to lead colleagues in considering various approaches to tailoring safe sleep training for their communities. We will share elements of our approach including humanizing data, conversation starters, #clearthecrib challenge, building on agency values, strengths and assets, addressing common myths, and providing tangible resources. At the conclusion of the workshop, colleagues will come away with methods to strengthen their safe sleep training approaches to get way beyond the ABC’s.
1. Identify opportunities within your current workflow to address safe sleep practices in your community.
2. Identify strategies for addressing barriers within a specified population.
3. Analyze the applicable areas of evidenced based practice that address safe sleep barriers & solutions.
4. Summarize opportunities for optimizing safe sleep practices and provide family-centered methods to support safe sleep.