Despite the growing body of evidence on the compatibility of lactation after receiving anesthesia, sedation, or analgesia, lactating surgical patients are often still misinformed by their health care team to pump and discard for an unnecessary and arbitrary period of time. Misinformation and lack of perioperative lactation support may lead to increased patient stress, decreased milk supply, mastitis, or unintentional weaning. This comprehensive talk will cover all aspects of the perioperative care of the lactating patient including preoperative counseling and education, intraoperative anesthetic management, and postoperative strategies to maintain and protect lactation. However, there are indications or reasons to wean when lactating patients may not be able to continue their breastfeeding/chestfeeding journey. Other highlights will include the basics of the various types of anesthesia, actual case studies, and available evidenced based resources and references for both patients and the health care team.
- Lecturer:
- Dr. Kara Barnett
- Objectives:
Following this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe preferred medications to be used preoperatively that support lactation
- Describe a comprehensive perioperative lactation program.
- List at least 4 factors related to informed decision-making when weighing the risks and benefits of prescribing perioperative medications.
- CERPs:
- 1 L CERPs / 1 Lactation Specific Hours
- Access period:
- One week
- Lecture recorded:
- 2023
Dr. Kara Barnett is an associate attending and board-certified anesthesiologist, as well as the Director of Anesthesia Services at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center Monmouth regional site.
She joined MSK in 2009 and was instrumental in the planning and opening of MSK’s only freestanding outpatient surgical center in New Jersey in January 2017. At MSK Monmouth, Dr. Barnett solely cares for surgical, gastroenterology, and interventional radiology cancer patients.
Her interests include improving patient safety and is a director on the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA) board, chair of the SAMBA Committee on Scientific Papers, and vice chair of the SAMBA Committee on Non-Operating Room Anesthesia.
Dr. Barnett is also passionate about improving the perioperative experience for lactating surgical patients through policy creation and patient and healthcare worker education. As a physician leader with the MSK hospital-wide Lactation Task Force, she and her colleagues have authored hospital policies, published papers, and given presentations on perioperative lactation.