• ESSI IDPH Letter of Support
• American Board of Pediatrics MOC Attestation Form – ESSI 
  • MOC REDCap Submission Form * Required
• ESSI Initiative and Key Strategies Poster **
  • Spanish 
• 10 Steps to Getting Started with ESSI
• ESSI Key Driver Diagram 
• ESSI Frequently Asked Questions **
• ESSI Team Meeting: Example Agenda  
• ILPQC Illinois Insurance Private vs. Public Tip Sheet

Data Forms and REDCap 

• ESSI Monthly Newborn Data Form **
• ESSI Monthly Hospital Data Form **
• ESSI Data Training Webinar Recording 
• ESSI REDCap Reports Slides
• ESSI REDCap Reports – Descriptions

  • A newly updated guide is now available to help teams interpret the three stratified ESSI reports in REDCap. This resource explains how to view ESSI Bundle measures by birthing person race/ethnicity, infant race/ethnicity, and insurance type

• ESSI QI Driver Dashboard User Guide
• REDCap Zoho Export Guide

• AAP Equity and Inclusion Efforts 
• AAP Policy Statement: The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health (2019) 
• AAP Policy Statement: Eliminating Race Based Medicine (2022)
• AAP Policy Statement: The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health (2019) 
• AAP Policy Statement: Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2022 Recommendations for Reducing Infant Deaths in the Sleep Environment (2022) 
• AWHONN Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at AWHONN  
• NANN Position Statement #3070: Racial Disparity in the NICU (2020)  
• NANN Position Statement #3075: Trauma-Informed Care in the NICU (2022) 
• NANN 9 Recommendations for Equality in Care  

I-PROMOTE-IL Implicit Bias Training Directory: ESSI Teams may find the following e-learning modules in the directory most helpful. 

Use our ILPQC Implementation Template to create your education plan with the resources below.  These resources are also listed in the document linked here.

e-Learning Modules  

• March of Dimes  
• Diversity Science
  • Diversity Science Fact Sheet 

Live Trainings 

• PQI SPEAK UP Champion Training – Live web-based training over two half days. (Contact PQI for cost)
• March of Dimes – Live web-based/in person training. (Contact MOD for cost) 

Tools to Facilitate Discussion    

Research Publications on Hospital-Implemented Practices with Tools for Adaptation 

• Health Equity Rounds: An Interdisciplinary Case Conference to Address Implicit Bias and Structural Racism for Faculty and Trainees – Tools included in appendices. 
• Addressing implicit bias and health disparities in a level IV NICU: Lessons learned from a novel NICU approach demonstrating examples of implicit bias. 

Films and Listening to Parent Voices

• Toxic – A Black Woman’s Story  – This drama looks at how race, toxic stress, and birth outcomes are intertwined.  Available to purchase with accompanying discussion guide via instructions on the website.  
• Laboring with Hope – This short documentary is about loss, grief, and the hope for improving health outcomes for Black women. Available to purchase with accompanying discussion guide via instructions on the website.  
  • Laboring with Hope ILPQC Informational Handout for hospital team access
• Aftershock – This documentary film witnesses two families become ardent advocates in the maternal health space after the tragic loss of two women following the deliveries. Available on Hulu. 
• PQI 28-day Anti-Racism Challenge, v2 – Daily activities to reflect and provide you tools to support your anti-racism efforts.  
• The Illinois Maternal Health Digital Storytelling Project  
• CDC HEAR HER Campaign – Launched in 2020, the Hear Her® initiative supports the CDC’s mission to prevent pregnancy-related deaths by spotlighting urgent maternal warning signs during pregnancy and up to a year postpartum

Resources for Respectful Care Practices  

• ILPQC Actionable Respectful Care Strategies 
  • ILPQC ESSI Respectful Care Practices Poster – Adapted from Birth Equity, this poster can be used to promotes respectful care practices within the NICU. (Available in Spanish)
    
    • ESSI RCP Sign Off Sheet – Adapted from Birth Equity, this sign-off sheet promotes commitment to the ESSI Respectful Care Practices. 

• AWHONN Respectful Maternity Care Implementation Toolkit –  Toolkit for health care professionals in maternity settings to integrate respectful maternity care into their area of work or influence 
• The SHARE Approach – A five-step process for shared decision making from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
  

ILPQC ESSI Education Training Resources

AAP Technical Report: Evidence Base for 2022 Updated Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment to Reduce the Risk of Sleep-Related Infant Deaths (2022) ** 

e-Learning modules 

• Cribs for Kids: Hospital-Wide Infant Safe Sleep Training – Hospital wide safe sleep training module (Free) 
  • Cribs for Kids Safe Sleep Ambassador Education Outreach Program ** – Additional training available to any organization or individual to emphasize the importance of safe sleep education.
    
• NIH Safe to Sleep Provider Training and Materials – Training for healthcare, public health, and service providers about safe infant sleep with tips on how to communicate safe sleep messages to diverse audiences (Free, 1.5 CEs) 

Endorse and model a safe sleep environment 

• ILPQC Safe Sleep Crib Cards – This file has two options, “Ready for ABCs of Safe Sleep” and “Not Quite Ready for my ABCs of Safe Sleep”. With additional guidelines on the backside, these crib cards serve as an example of educational material that can be utilized by any hospital. 
• ILPQC Safe Sleep Door Hanger – A door hanger is a sign that hangs from a door’s handle / knob. Download this Safe Sleep Door Hanger, includes a QR Code to watch safe sleep educational videos.
• ILPQC Safe Sleep Stickers – This ZIP file contains 6 different designs to endorse Safe Sleep. Stickers can be placed on your laptop, working station, baby wipes, and more.
• Anatomical Diagram Teaching Tool: Created by New York State Perinatal Quality Collaborative. Available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Bengali, Korean, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Urdu, Yiddish, Italian, and Albanian. 
• Children’s Hospital of Colorado Safe Sleep Order – This image shows an example of a “Safe Sleep Order” interface used within an electronic medical record (EMR) system. This can be designed to standardize and document infant safe sleep practices in the hospital setting. Hospitals can embed this order into EMRs like Epic or Cerner as a standard workflow tool to promote safe sleep modeling, documentation, and data tracking.
• Modeling Safe Practices: A checklist to use for assessing safe sleep in images. 
• Safe Sleep Photography Guidelines: Guideline of what published images can be displayed that are in accordance with the Recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics Safe Sleep Infant Sleeping Environment  
  
  • Approved Safe Sleep Images Gallery: Imagery that promotes infant sleep that can be displayed across all hospital mediums. Hospitals may also find their state or hospital association, or other regional safe sleep organization to find images.  
• Cribs for Kids Audit (Jan 2023) – Audit tool checklist (Y/N) to determine if safe sleep is observed or unsafe sleep is observed in the clinical environment. 
• Safe Sleep Environmental Audit Tool – This PA SafeSleep 3-minute flow sheet offers a standardized method to evaluate an infant’s sleeping environment during their hospital stay after birth 
• 2024 Breastfeeding and Safe Sleep: Evidence-Based Practices Guidance Document –  This document provides a template for health care providers to incorporate ongoing support of breastfeeding while following safe sleep guidelines, beginning in the prenatal period through the first 24 months of life.  
• NIH Clear the Crib Directions for Implementation: The #ClearTheCrib Challenge is a fun activity that raises awareness about safe infant sleep. This provider handout from the NIH goes through the general steps to implement Clear the Crib and provides additional resources. 

Endorse and model a safe sleep environment – NICU Specific

• AAP Policy Statement: Transition to a Safe Home Sleep Environment for the NICU Patient
• NICU Safe Sleep Positioning (SSP) Algorithm – Project algorithm utilized by Hwang et.al to determine which NICU infants are eligible for safe sleep positioning.  
• NICU Safe Sleep Positioning Audit Form – From the NICU Safe Sleep Initiative, NeoQIC
• NICU Safe Sleep Practice Bedside Audit Form – PA SafeSleep ICN/NICU Audit Tool is a brief tool designed to check compliance with safe sleep practices in NICU settings.

Encourage meaningful, culturally appropriate, respectful, nonjudgmental conversations. 

• ILPQC ESSI Safe Sleep Conversations Tip Sheet for Nurses and Providers
• ILPQC Safe Sleep Dot Phrase
• AAP Safe Sleep Communication Strategies: AAP suggest providers consider these strategies when crafting messages    
• Child Safety Forward: A Reflection Guide to Shape Provider Conversations about Infant Sleep : This guide is set up to offer providers a tool based on Child Safety Forward learning to help think through how bias shows up at the individual, relational, and institutional level and helps re-design our work with community so that we stand a far greater chance of finding solutions in partnership with them around the universal goal of child safety.

Secondary Driver 1: Organizational Leadership Commitment  

• ESSI IDPH Letter of Support

Secondary Driver 2: Equitable and Inclusive Unit Policies 

• ILPQC Policy Impact Review Tool (2025): Adapted from Minnesota State, this resource provides a template for essential questions to ask when evaluating the impact of existing and upcoming hospital policies. 
• Minnesota State Applying an Equity Lens to Policy Review – This document is a protocol for policy review that provides a structure for institutionalizing the considering of equity in the process of making, implementing, and assessing policy.  
• Policy and Process Review Tool Through an Equity Lens –  This is an equity lens tool adapted from the Minnesota Department of Public Health. This tool provides supplemental questions to consider when looking at existing policies, developing new policies, and examining current processes. 

Secondary Driver 3: Parent and Caregiver Experience Prioritization 

• Use qualified interpreters and provide information in multiple languages 
  • • ILPQC ESSI Interpreter Flyer: This flyer encourages healthcare providers to consistently use interpreters to convey clear, standardized safe‑sleep messages, empowering non-English-speaking families to fully participate in their baby’s care.
    • California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC) Overcoming Language Barriers in the NICU Tip Sheet 
    • California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC) Improving Outcomes for NICU Families with a Non-English Language of Preference Resource Bundle –The non-English language of preference (NELP) Resource Bundle includes action-oriented, evidence-based, or evidence-derived change ideas that NICU team members can implement to improve outcomes for families with a non-English language of preference and advance health equity. 

• Encourage your unit to highlight data, stories, and strategies pertaining to racial equity  
  
  • Racial/Ethnic Disparity in NICU Quality of Care Delivery: Significant racial and/or ethnic variation in quality of care exists between and within NICUs. Providing feedback of disparity scores to NICUs could serve as an important starting point for promoting improvement and reducing disparities.

Secondary Driver 1: Respectful Parent and Caregiver Partnerships  

• National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (2023) – 4 Tips for Including & Engaging Family Partners in Your Work
• AHRQ – Working with Patients and Families as Advisors

ILPQC Created Resources

• Patient and Family Engagement Information Sheet (2025)
• 5 Steps to Engaging a Patient or Parent Partner
• Respectful Care Breakfast Planning Guide

Secondary Driver 2: Safe Sleep Awareness 

ILPQC Created Resources

• ILPQC “My Baby’s Safe Sleep Plan” – A safe sleep plan describes how a baby will sleep and includes strategies to reduce the baby’s risk of SUID.
  • Spanish Translation
• ILPQC “ESSI Safe Sleep Guidance to be Shared with Families“
• National and State Resources 
  • AAP Safe Sleep Campaign Toolkit – American Academy of Pediatrics has developed a suite of materials including posters, infographics, videos and social media messages. 
  • Illinois Safe Sleep Support – A program for families in Illinois through the Illinois Department of Human Services to learn about the safest ways for their babies to sleep, get answers to their sleep safety questions, and get access to items they need to keep their babies safe.  
  • NIH Safe to Sleep – Education materials include ways to reduce risk, safe sleep environment, breastfeeding and safe sleep, and tummy time. 
  • PA Safe Sleep Program “What is SUID” Brochure – Available in more than 20+ languages.
  • Preterm Infant Sleep Roadmap – A visual guide to safe sleep at home and the NICU. 

• Handouts and Posters 
  
  • Illinois Safe Sleep Support Handout – 4 ways to keep your baby safe while they sleep. This handout is available in 5 languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Polish.
  • Anatomical Diagram Teaching Tool: Created by New York State Perinatal Quality Collaborative. Available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Bengali, Korean, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Urdu, Yiddish, Italian, and Albanian.  
  • Cribs for Kids – 9 Steps for Safe Sleep: Poster that lists the appropriate ways to engage in safe sleep practices. This poster is available in Spanish. 
• Videos  
  
  • Charlie’s Kids Educational Videos 

• E-module 
  • The Cribs for Kids Safe Sleep Ambassador Training: Training available to any organization or individual to emphasize the importance of safe sleep education.

• Safe Sleep and Breastfeeding  
  • Safe Infant Sleep and Breastfeeding Support: What to Consider When Looking for Child Care: Checklist/guide to support caregivers assess two important aspects of child care, safe infant sleep and breastfeeding, as they decide who will care for their baby.

• Safe Sleep Information for Other Caregivers 
  • A Safe Sleep Guide for Childcare Providers: Created by the Department of Human Services, Hawaii,  this guide defines SIDS and SUID, reviews the ABCs, and provides a guide to ensuring infants in your care have a safe sleep environment. 
  • NICHD Caregiver Education: The Safe to Sleep campaign offers a variety of free materials, including booklets, handouts and infographics, to help people learn about safe infant sleep and share safe sleep information with friends, family, and others.  
  • NICHQ Safe Sleep in Child Care Settings : A handout and FAQ for non-parental caregivers in child-care settings.

Secondary Driver 3: Transition to Home, including SDoH Screening and Resource Linkage 

• Guidance 
  • NICU Discharge Preparation and Transition Planning: Guidelines and Recommendations
• Transition to Home 
  • NICU to Home: Recommendations of a comprehensive NICU discharge preparation program. Includes discharge education resources, planning tools, planning team, and an educational philosophy. This website is updated regularly and aligns with NICU Discharge Preparation and Planning Process. 
  • ILPQC SDOH Dot Phrase (2025): This customizable SDOH screener includes newborn-specific questions designed to help Illinois hospitals identify and address families’ social needs early in the postpartum period. The tool can be adapted for local workflows and easily converted into a .phrase or smart phrase for use in electronic medical records
• Safe Sleep SDOH Screening Tools and Documentation 
  • Cribs for Kids Safe Sleep Screening Tool: Questionnaire determining SDoH for parent/infant
  • JCMH Safe Sleep Assessment Tool: Assessment determining SDoH for parent/infant 
• ILPQC Resource Linkage
  • ILPQC Summary of Tools to identify resources and services to address Social Determinants of Health
  • ILPQC Resource Mapping Worksheet 

Secondary Driver 1: Resource Mapping 

• FindHelp Resource  
  • ILPQC FindHelp Tip Sheet
• Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS)
  • Nutrition Program Matrix 
  • WIC Flyer for Health Care Providers
• ILPQC Summary of Tools to Identify Resources and Services to address Social Determinants of Health ILPQC Resource Linkage
  • ILPQC Resource Mapping Worksheet 
• Medicaid Managed Care Resources
  • FIMR / IAMHP Toolkit Webpage: FIMR CAT and the Illinois Association of Medicaid Health plan have collaborated on a series of toolkits to help Medicaid MCO consumers in Illinois better understand their benefits. This page contains the toolkits developed in one easy-to-access place.
  • IAMHP Maternal Health Toolkit for Providers: An easy reference for providers to briefly understand what benefits should be available to patients given their insurance​

• AAP IL Resources 
  • First Steps – AAP’s First Steps Initiative works to prevent and mitigate child health risks associated with house insecurity with a specific focus on children ages 0 to 6 and pregnant persons.
  • Illinois Partnership for Childhood Nutrition Security: The purpose of ICAAP’s Childhood Nutrition Security Project is to foster collaboration between pediatricians, state food delivery, and family support partners to improve pediatrician food insecurity screening, referral mechanisms, and resource delivery to families.

Secondary Driver 2: Building Relationships with Community Organizations 

• Bridging out to your community  
  • Making Community Partnerships Work – A Toolkit: Creating and sustaining a partnership requires patience, an understanding and appreciation of group process, and cultural sensitivity. This toolkit is designed to give you the background and tools you may need to engage a community in a partnership.  
  • Engaging Community Partners Tip Sheet: Check out this sheet for insight on how to identify a community partner, tips for building partnerships, and more.

• Support Safe Sleep 

1. 1. Cribs for Kids Third-Party Funding Document: Example of language to guide documentation provided by third parties to pledge financial support and commitment towards hospital wearable blankets and/or safe sleep space distribution.
   2. PASafe Sleep Digital Toolkit – Messaging created by the PA Safe Sleep program. Includes safe sleep messaging for social media outlets and how to spread the word in your community
   3. NICHQ 10 Principles for Community Centered Safe Sleep Campaigns: These principles aim to ensure that safe sleep messaging is effective, respectful, and impactful in diverse communities.

Secondary Driver 3: Transfer of Care to Community Providers 

ESSI Team-Created Resources:

• OSF Saint Katharine Newborn Discharge Form 

Staff training to optimize race, ethnicity and language (REAL) data collection  

• AHA – Optimizing REAL Data Collection:  Optimizing race, ethnicity and language (REAL) data collection in reducing health care disparities: Collection and use of race, ethnicity and language data (American Hospital Association)  
• AHA – Develop a Methodology for Data Collection: Developing a methodology for data collection in reducing health care disparities: Collection and use of race, ethnicity and language data (American Hospital Association)  

Scripts to optimize REAL data collection 

• AHA- Staff training and script examples: A one-page resource from the American Hospital Association that provides staff training tips and sample scripts to support respectful and effective collection of patient-reported race and ethnicity data.
• AHA – How to ask the questions- A one-page guide from the American Hospital Association offering clear examples and best practices on how to ask patients about their race and ethnicity in a way that promotes accuracy, trust, and patient-centered care.

ILPQC Process Flow Diagrams for Improving Race & Ethnicity Data Collection  

• ILPQC Collection of Race and Ethnicity Workflow Questionnaire – This resource is designed to help your hospital team map how information on birthing person and infant race/ethnicity and insurance status is currently collected.  
  • ILPQC Infant Race and Ethnicity Workflow Example
• Process Flow for Race Ethnicity Data Collection with Staff Responses_Neo  
• Process Flow for Race Ethnicity Data Collection with Staff Responses  

Standardized process to review, analyze, and share data stratified by race, ethnicity, and insurance status   

• HRET: A framework for stratifying race, ethnicity, and language data  
• HRET Equity Care Toolkit Eliminating Healthcare Disparities  
• ILPQC_ Hospital Guide to stratifying data by patient demographics 

Standardized process to address identified bias, inequities, and disparities from race, ethnicity, and insurance data.  

• Illinois mPINC Survey Report (2024): Implementing best practices and policies in maternity care help to improve breastfeeding outcomes. Use the Illinois mPINC data to bring together partners, identify gaps, celebrate achievements, and prioritize next steps.