GEORGIA WIC PROGRAM PROCEDURES MANUAL NS Staff Training

Policy No. NS- 220.01 Effective Date: October 1, 2016

No. of Pages: 2

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Policy The local agency shall provide internal or external training opportunities and continuing education for the topics below.

All staff that provide WIC services must have, but not be limited to: - One (1) hour of customer service training annually - Two (2) hours of breastfeeding training annually - State approved civil rights training annually

New staff must have civil rights training prior to interacting with participants. Annual programmatic training is required for all staff that provide the following services: - Anthropometric collection and assessment - Hemoglobin collection and assessment - Mandatory and recommended referrals Annual Value Enhanced Nutrition Assessment (VENA) / Patient Centered Education (PCE) training is required for all staff that provide education and counseling to WIC participants: WIC Competent Professional Authority (CPA), Breastfeeding Peer Counselor (BPC), International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), Nutrition Assistant (NA) and other breastfeeding staff providing WIC services. Purpose To ensure local agency (LA) staff is trained to promote breastfeeding and provide WIC services in a customer friendly, respectful manner. Procedures I. The local agency must maintain documentation that staff received required annual training. See Continuing Education Documentation Log.

A. Staff must be entered in the log on the appropriate tab by position held. Staff holding multiple positions should only be listed once under the position with the highest level of requirements. B. The log must be tracked by Federal Fiscal Year. If changing tracking year, two logs must be kept until the transition to the new tracking year is complete.

II. The local agency must submit training documentation when requested for policy and action memos.

GEORGIA WIC PROGRAM PROCEDURES MANUAL NS Staff Training

Policy No. NS- 220.01 Effective Date: October 1, 2016

No. of Pages: 2

Page 2 of 2

Authority 7 C.F.R. § 246.11(c)(2) and (c)(7)(iii)

Definitions/Supporting Information Breastfeeding Peer Counselor: (BPC) - A WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor is a paraprofessional support person who gives basic breastfeeding information and encouragement to WIC pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Competent Professional Authority (CPA) – An individual on the local agency staff who is authorized to determine nutritional risk and prescribe supplemental foods. The following individuals may be authorized and trained to serve as a CPA: physicians, nutritionists (bachelor’s or master’s degree in Nutritional Sciences, Community Nutrition, Clinical Nutrition, Dietetics, Public Health Nutrition), registered dietitians, licensed dietitians, registered nurses, and physician assistants (certified by the National Committee on certification of Physicians Assistants or certified by the State medical certifying authority), or State or local medically trained health officials. International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC) - An IBCLC is a health care professional who specializes in the clinical management of breastfeeding. IBCLCs are certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners under the direction of the US National Commission for Certifying Agencies. Certification is awarded upon completion of extensive clinical experience with breastfeeding mothers, educational credits in lactation, and a passing score on the lactation consultants' examination. IBCLCs must re-certify by acquiring continuing education recognition points over five years and must retake the certification examination after 10 years. Nutrition Assistant (NA) – An individual on the local agency staff who has been authorized to provide general nutrition education within a limited scope of practice. NA must only provide education that they have specifically been trained to provide. Lesson plans or evidence of training related to the content must be available for review by the State Agency for all low-risk nutrition education an NA provides.