Improving sudden unexplained infant death investigation practices: an evaluation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's SUID Investigation Training Academies.

Lack of thorough sudden unexplained infant death investigations (SUIDIs) has hindered accurate cause-of-death determination, infant mortality surveillance, and prevention strategies. To standardize SUIDI practices, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created a reporting form, guidelines, training curriculum, and SUIDI Training Academies using a train-the-trainer format. The training goal was to train teams of five in each state, who would reach an additional 1250 participants.The aim of this study is to evaluate the SUIDI Training Academies by determining professional characteristics of participants, assessing the level of confidence in infant death investigation components, enumerating the number of secondary trainings, and discussing recommendations for future trainings.To evaluate the training and the success of the train-the-trainer strategy, we used training evaluations, participant lists, and Web-based training logs to assess participant knowledge, skills, perceptions, and characteristics and number of secondary trainings.We trained 270 trainers at 5 SUIDI Training Academies. Greater than 96% of respondents reported confidence in case investigation skills and reported that hands-on laboratory sessions facilitated the practice of new skills. Academy trainers have trained greater than 23,000 medicolegal professionals, exceeding the training goal. This evaluation allowed us to identify opportunities to improve future SUIDI trainings.