More Than a "Number": Perspectives of Prenatal Care Quality from Mothers of Color and Providers.

Introduction: African American mothers and other mothers of historically underserved populations consistently have higher rates of adverse birth outcomes than White mothers. Increasing prenatal care use among these mothers may reduce these disparities. Most prenatal care research focuses on prenatal care adequacy rather than concepts of quality.

Effect of a Best Practice Alert on Gestational Weight Gain, Health Services, and Pregnancy Outcomes.

Objective To examine whether an electronic medical record "best practice alert" previously shown to improve antenatal gestational weight gain patient education resulted in downstream effects on service delivery or patient health outcomes. Methods This study involved secondary analysis of data from an intervention to improve provider behavior surrounding gestational weight gain patient education. Data were from retrospective chart reviews of patients who received care either before (N = 333) or after (N = 268) implementation of the intervention.

Excess Gestational Weight Gain in Low-Income Overweight and Obese Women: A Qualitative Study.

Objective: Examine factors implicated in gestational weight gain (GWG) in low-income overweight and obese women.

Design: Qualitative study.

Setting: Community-based perinatal center.

Improving gestational weight gain counseling through meaningful use of an electronic medical record.

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an intervention to improve the consistency and accuracy of antenatal gestational weight gain counseling through introduction of a "best practice alert" into an electronic medical record (EMR) system. A best practice alert was designed and implemented in the EMR. Based on each patient's pre-gravid body mass index (BMI), fetal number, and 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines, the alert provides an individualized total gestational weight gain goal, the weight gain goal per week of gestation, a template for scripted provider counseling and documentation, and a patient handout containing personalized gestational weight gain information.