The benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and babies have been well documented in the scientific literature, with new evidence about the benefits continuing to emerge. The Surgeon General’s call to action to support breastfeeding recommends mandatory breastfeeding education and training for all healthcare providers that deliver care to mothers and babies. The purpose of this study is to analyze the development of an online computer based breastfeeding training (BT) and the preliminary outcomes of this training. The development of this training included consultation with content and technology experts. The collection of preliminary outcomes related to breastfeeding knowledge data and evaluation of the online BT was pre and posttest study. Eighty six undergraduate nursing students completed the online BT using Blackboard Learn. The online component of the BT consisted of five modules with a combined length of approximately 16 hours. After the completion of the modules, the students increased their levels of knowledge related to breastfeeding and the majority believed that they were fully able to perform skills to support breastfeeding. The results of this study indicate that a successful BT for nursing students can be effectively designed, which can in the future be disseminated to other healthcare providers and students. In addition, this online BT was cost-efficient and effective in improving students’ knowledge and skills to support breastfeeding.

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Background: Opportunities to provide competent and compassionate End-of Life (EOL) care to patients and families are limited for nursing students. Method: A mixed methods approach was used to explore the students' attitudes towards caring for an EOL patient in two groups: an on-line-module only group and an on-line module plus simulation group. Results: Statistically significant effect of time was found across the two conditions (F [1, 69] = 7.83, p = .007), indicating that scores on the FATCOD-B significantly improved regardless of the condition over time. The qualitative responses indicated that the simulation experience was more impactful than the on-line module. Conclusions: Innovative education modalities described in the study may assist in preparing the future workforce for the myriad of demands related to health, life, and death.