January 24, 2008

Michigan State University's Institute for Health Care Studies, in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Community Health, Tomorrow's Child, and the Michigan Public Health Institute has developed a Web-based Safe Sleep Course to provide individuals caring for pregnant women, infants and care-givers with education strategies and interventions to promote a consistent safe sleep environment.

Development of the course is one of many steps multiple state agencies are taking in response to a rise in the preventable infant deaths. Every year in Michigan, close to 50 infants, or one child every week, dies due to unsafe sleep practices. Risk factors identified by local Child Death Review Teams include:

- Infants not sleeping in cribs;

- Infants placed to sleep in soft or heavy bedding;

- Infants sharing a sleep surface with one or more persons; and

- Infants not sleeping on their backs.

By making training readily available to providers, more mothers and families will receive the consistent unified messages on how to keep their babies safe while sleeping. Registered nurses who successfully complete the Safe Sleep Course and submit an evaluation will receive .50 nursing continuing education contact hours through MSU, an approved provider of continuing education by the Michigan Nurses Association.

The Web-based Safe Sleep Course can be accessed for free by going to http://learning.mihealth.org. For more information, call Debra Darling (517) 432-9822 or Rosemary Fournier (517) 335-8416.