Supporting Family Physician Maternity Care Providers.

Maternity care access in the United States is in crisis. The American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology projects that by 2030 there will be a nationwide shortage of 9,000 obstetrician-gynecologists (OB/GYNs). Midwives and OB/GYNs have been called upon to address this crisis, yet in underserved areas, family physicians are often providing a majority of this care.

A National CERA Study of the Use of Laborists in Family Medicine Residency Training.

Background And Objectives: Little is known about the impact of laborists (which we defined as "clinicians dedicated to providing L&D care services in the hospital environment for pregnant patients, regardless of who provided the prenatal care" for this survey) on family medicine residency training. We surveyed family medicine residency directors to assess characteristics about laborist services and their involvement in family medicine residency teaching.

Methods: Questions were included in the 2015 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) survey of family medicine residency directors.

Multidisciplinary collaborative development of a plain-language prenatal education book.

During pregnancy, women actively seek out health information that promotes the well-being of themselves and their fetuses. For those with health literacy challenges, access to understandable health information can be difficult. Written information, in particular, needs to be readable and usable by the women served.

Herb use, vitamin use, and diet in low-income, postpartum women.

Introduction: Little is known about herb use among underserved postpartum women and their patterns of communication about herb use with prenatal providers.

Methods: We interviewed women from the postpartum unit at an urban hospital about herb use during pregnancy, socioeconomic factors, prenatal vitamin use, and diet. We asked women if they discussed use of herbs and vitamins with their prenatal care providers and asked about their satisfaction with these discussions.

The birth of a collaborative model: obstetricians, midwives, and family physicians.

In the United States, the challenges of maternity care include provider workforce, cost containment, and equal access to quality care. This article describes a collaborative model of care involving midwives, family physicians, and obstetricians at the Boston Medical Center, which serves a low-income multicultural population. Leadership investment in a collaborative model of care from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Section of Midwifery, and the Department of Family Medicine created a culture of safety and commitment to patient-centered care.

How we built our team: collaborating with partners to strengthen skills in pregnancy, delivery, and newborn care.

We describe how collaboration with outpatient community health centers and other disciplines resulted in the creation of a novel interdisciplinary inpatient maternal child health system that focuses on safety and collaboration. Our maternal child health faculty team includes a mix of fellowship- and non-fellowship-trained, inpatient- and outpatient-based family physicians. Our team provides a sustainable framework for faculty to practice both inpatient and outpatient maternity care and provides strong role models for our trainees.