worth repeating

No need to convince those of us interested in maternity care...but to the average American, this article in a PA paper is needed information:

One of the biggest opportunities for reducing health care costs is improving the quality of maternity care. For most businesses, childbirth and newborn care is the largest or second largest (after heart care) category of hospital expenditures, and it's by far the largest category of hospital expenditures for state Medicaid programs. So even small improvements can result in large savings.

The place to start is with the most common hospital procedure in America -- the cesarean section. A C-section is a surgical delivery of a baby, rather than a normal, vaginal delivery. Not only does a C-section typically cost twice as much as a vaginal delivery, it is more likely to result in infections, injuries and other complications for both mothers and babies.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11065/1129785-432.stm#ixzz1FsH1Rtav

maternal mortality

One mother dies every minute of every day in relation to childbirth - and it doesn't have to be this way. Check out the great piece in Huffington Post with a few stunning statistics like these"

Each year, more than a half million women lose their lives from complications arising before, during, or after childbirth. Almost all of these deaths occur in the developing world, and almost all of them are preventable.

and

The child of a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5, and when girls finish quality secondary and higher education, 84% of them will give birth with skilled medical help, more than twice the rate of mothers with no formal education.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rania-al-abdullah/maternal-mortality_b_300052.html

evidence based maternity care

Recently I posted on the new study, the Milbank Report: Evidence Based Maternity Care, sponsored by the Milbank Memorial Fund, and authored by Carol Sakala, of the amazing Childbirth Connection. It's wonderful work and well worth reading. A free hard copy can be obtained from Milbank & a PDF download from Childbirth Connection.

Yesterday there was a program on WBAI radio discussing the report. The show, Health Styles with Diana Mason (a nurse), featured Carol Sakala & is a terrific interview conversation about the report findings. You can go here to take a listen (be prepared to move past lots of jazz music - it's the first half of the show)

doulas in the news!

Check out USA Today's "Maternity Care Failings Can Be Remedied With Cost-Saving Fixes" to see how doulas are part of the solution!... Also information on cesareans and informed consent.

The article refers to the release of this report by Childbirth Connection, entitled, "Evidence-Based Maternity Care Report, 2008".

Of doulas, family-practice doctor Valerie King of the Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland says,

"If a doula could be put in an IV drip, everyone would get it."

Also in USA Today, "Study: High-Tech Interventions Deliver Huge Childbirth Bill". I think the title speaks for itself.