How to Use the mPINC Ten Steps Assessment Tool

• Step 1: Review and prepare.
  • Review background material, including CDC’s mPINC survey and scoring algorithm and the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.
  • Gather mPINC Hospital Reports for the hospital you wish to assess.
    • If a state health department does not have the needed Hospital Report, they can request facility-level data on hospitals in their state from CDC by contacting mpinc@cdc.gov. Hospitals may also request their own hospital’s report from CDC by contacting mpinc@cdc.gov.
    • If a hospital has not completed the mPINC survey recently, mPINC questionnaires are available for use. The mPINC scoring algorithm and this tool can be used to score and assess hospital responses.
• Step 2: Input data into tool.
  • Find the tool or download fillable versions of the tool from the mPINC Ten Steps Assessment Tool website.
  • Use the mPINC Hospital Report, requested data, or completed mPINC questionnaire to note the hospital’s response to each item. Compare the hospital’s response to the ideal response for each item.
• Step 3: Use results to help inform improvement efforts.
  • Assess the hospital’s alignment with each of the Ten Steps by noting how often the hospital selected the ideal response for items corresponding to each Step.
  • Identify strengths and weaknesses in maternity care practices and policies to help plan quality improvement initiatives.

How to use findings from the mPINC Ten Steps Assessment Tool

Results can be used to help assess a hospital’s implementation of each of the Ten Steps. Alignment with each Step can be assessed by noting how often the hospital selected the ideal response for the corresponding mPINC items.

Findings can be used to identify gaps, celebrate achievements, plan for improvement, and bring together partners to prioritize next steps. For example, if a hospital did not choose ideal responses for most of the items in Step 7, then changes to practices and policies related to rooming-in may be considered and implemented.

Have you used this tool? We want to hear from you about your experiences! For any questions or comments on this tool, please contact mpinc@cdc.gov.