AIMS (Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services)’s Post

I am very curious about the awareness and knowledge of the Biden-Harris Administration about the levels of maternity care established in originally in 2015, reaffirmed in 2019, and corrected in 2019 and 2023, by American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). From ACOG: The American Association of Birth Centers; the American College of Nurse-Midwives; the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses; the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers; and the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology endorse this document. The American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Hospital Association support this document. The American Society of Anesthesiologists has reviewed this document. This document was developed jointly by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in collaboration with Sarah J. Kilpatrick, MD, PhD; M. Kathryn Menard, MD, MPH; Christopher M. Zahn, MD; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s representative William M. Callaghan, MD, MPH. The findings, conclusions, and views in this Obstetric Care Consensus do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the U.S. government. Below is the link to review the existing levels of maternity care and the robust list of various organizations and health professional organizations who endorsed and reviewed the levels of maternity care and the names and credentials of individual experts who co-developed the document with ACOG https://lnkd.in/eKbQd4Ge Below is the link to review the existing states who have implemented the levels of maternity since November 2020. https://lnkd.in/eWTb5-6d My initial response is to lead with curiosity, compassion, and critical analysis, how does this “first ever national standards of maternity health and safety” differ or align with the existing levels of maternity care?

Exciting news! Read the article below to learn more about how Carrot Fertility is helping employers improve outcomes for pregnant members and reduce healthcare costs through CarrotMatch for maternity. CarrotMatch is powered by a unique dataset that scores providers across more than 200 metrics across quality, outcomes, and total cost of care. This is going to have a huge impact!

This is such an important proposal, and my hope is that when hospitals and communities are setting the standards for "quality care," they actually ask what that means to the communities they are serving. I did my MPH specialization with the local Perinatal Equity Initiative in California, with the goal of reducing the disparities in maternal and infant death rates for black moms in particular. As a NICU nurse who specialized in Quality Improvement in the hospital, it quickly became clear to me that what I considered the nursing interventions to improve health, were not necessarily going to be right for everyone, and that there were barriers to these women's health that I could not begin to understand. I needed to listen. I needed to understand the barriers that systemic racism were putting in place, and why there was distrust in the healthcare system. I love that hospitals will start to be held accountable for certain quality metrics, as they should, and I hope that effective Implicit Bias training for care providers is a strong part of the process. I learned so many things in my experience that I could never have possibly known without actually talking to people with the lived experiences that put things in perspective for me. Also learning that the higher women get in socioeconomic status, the larger the disparities in maternal death rate by race. So, an African-American lawyer living with all the medical care and resources, has 4 times the chance of dying in childbirth than a white woman lawyer with all the medical care and resources. This is taking into account all of the other potential confounding factors too. This fact struck me so hard, because I think a lot of people think that its "just socioeconomic status" and therefore that can't be fixed, or is too complex to be fixed. This shows that there actually is something much deeper going on. As did one woman telling me that she never had a single care provider seem happy for her about her pregnancy, and she was always met with judgement about keeping her baby, even though it was a planned pregnancy (which nobody ever asked.) This broke my heart as well. All of this to say, YAY for the new program, YAY for the Biden/Harris Administration, and for all of us providers out there- we need to see and listen to all of our patients.

Danielle Dolan AnneMarie Aquino Jacquelyn Allard I am familiar with many standards for mother and infant safety, and many best practices through supporting a Maternal Child Health Professional Governance Council, but I am far from an expert. That said, historically, women's care issues are understudied and underfunded, particularly for marginalized populations. Is a Federal effort to establish standards long overdue? How do we make certain that nurse experts - who are providing much of the care - contribute to developing and are educated in best practices? How do we ensure that nursing art and sciences, and true human interests are guiding this work and not lobbyist and special interests? How will this be funded and sustained? Will hospitals be asked to carry more financial burden, albeit for needed social reform? Further, we have "age friendly" and "baby friendly" designations - What are your thoughts of "birthing friendly?" As a feminist, I am earnest in promoting "woman friendly" designations as well, but I digress. Check out the blueprint here! https://lnkd.in/e28Gjstv

Maternal health interventions to respond to pregnancy complications have significant impact on expectant women. The use of skilled attendance at birth remains low in many counties. Preventing unintended pregnancies is the first step to preventing maternal deaths. We're at the lead in ensuring women have access to skilled attendance during pregnancy, childbirth and nursing. We train CHWs, CHVs and TBAs to assist women at the time of need. #MaternalCareActionPlan

May 6 - 12 is #MaternalMentalHealthWeek, a time to raise awareness about the well-being of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. It’s imperative we advocate for better healthcare treatment and resources and address mental well-being for pre- and post-partum patients. Access information and support with the following resources. https://lnkd.in/g-ZTgkzA #MaternalMentalHealth

An excellent training on a critically important topic.

This is huge accomplishment! I appreciate each of you who have worked diligently on defining the guidelines for Maternal Health. I want to take this opportunity to emphasize that "cultural compentency" should be explored more deeply and broadly on these work. As a researcher who focuses on the intersection of gender, race and sexuality, my work demonstrate that information isn't enough to dismantle the cognitive barriers created by our social constructs of the identitary categories. This applies for both, patients and service providers. The potential here is to unveil structures and systems. The protocol manages the environment within institutions. However import and necessary, it does not dissipate all the complexities of the binomial identity-based relationships. The challenges in achieving equity requires more protocols that are built in interdisciplinarity and not silos of understanding and medical power and prevalence about Reproductive Health. As we recognize that access to health is an exercise of power within a social contract that weighs down minority voices and transfer the outcome result to the individual, hopefully we ask more questions. What is your work going to build upon this historic achievement to black women's health? One thing that comes to mind is that access to women's health is deeply associated to motherhood. We know equitable health outcomes is a challenge for women having a child and this historic moment reminds us of it. So, how is the the reproductive health of women who are not in bearing child age or does not go through pregnancies? What the need for this protocol tells you about them? p.s. reproductive health here is used beyond a biologic view of the women's health.

I am excited to share a new manuscript written by our team that focuses on NIH and NHLBI Community Implementation Programs to improve maternal health. In this piece, we describe vision, goals,and research supported by these implementation science programs. 🌟 We address how these programs have the potential to improve maternal health equity especially in underserved and minoritized populations. We also highlight the potential for community-engaged research as an important driver of integrating evidence-based interventions for improved maternal care in communities facing the greatest maternal care disparities and risks for morbidity and mortality. 🔗 https://bit.ly/3N5uZIP

The 2024 edition of the Every Week Counts Magazine is out now! If you are pregnant, considering a pregnancy, or work in maternity care, this magazine contains articles with the latest information to ensure the best possible pregnancy outcomes. To view the national 2024 edition, go to: https://lnkd.in/gkFYCKSB For more information, follow the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance www.pretermalliance.com.au | Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance to find out why #everyweekcounts #australianpretermbirthpreventionalliance