Operating a nursing mothers' room in a university setting: Thirteen years of experience

The purposes of this presentation are to describe successful strategies used to operate a nursing mothers' room (NMR) in one university setting for 13 years, and present room usage data for 2004-2006. This NMR is one of three that are available for students, staff and faculty in the academic health center of a large university in the upper Midwest. The NMR accommodates two women at one time. It is equipped with two electric breast pumps, comfortable chairs, a refrigerator, a sink and other amenities. Administrative data are routinely collected and used for evaluation purposes. Mothers provide selected maternal and infant information and they record their times in and out in a logbook each time they use the NMR. During the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, 25, 22, and 24 women, respectively, received orientations to use the room. Women varied considerably in total number of weeks of usage, and number of days per week and times per day that they used the NMR. In 2004, the total number of NMR uses was 1283. Excluding weekends and holidays, the mean number of uses per day was 5.9, and the daily range of uses was 0-21. Total usage time in 2004 was 374 hours and average number of minutes per use was 17.5. Usage data for 2006 and 2007 are being analyzed currently and will be presented. Our experiences and data illustrate that a NMR can be operated effectively and efficiently given a designated room and a few key resources.