The content of prenatal care. Update 2005.

Introduction: The Content of Prenatal Care report of the US Preventative Health Service (USPHS) Expert Panel established an important benchmark when published in 1989, but has not been significantly updated since that time.

Methods: The literature since 1989 is reviewed to assess which recommendations have been validated and/or implemented. Additionally, new findings that support the recommendations put forth or expand the scope of prenatal care outlined in the 1989 report are examined and discussed.

Results: The USPHS recommendation of a reduced prenatal visit schedule has support, and new content for the preconception visit has been identified, although this preconception visit has not been validated or widely implemented.

Conclusions: We identified new opportunities and initiatives for the content of prenatal care, particularly improvement in the electronic medical record, attention to multidisciplinary approaches to patient education and improved patient literacy, and an extended maternal life span approach, including postgestation visits.