Presentation Information

Integrating Normality and Risk in U.S. Maternity Care, Emphasis on “Care”

• Speaker: Christine Morton , PhD
• Presentation Type:
• Duration: 60 Mins
• Credits: 1 CERP, 1 Nursing CEU, 1 CME, 0.1 Midwifery CEU

Abstract:

Maternal mortality and morbidity are rising, the cesarean rate just crept up and infant mortality rates are still too high in the United States. Black women are more likely to experience these outcomes than non-black women. This session will present U.S. trends and outline recent efforts to improve maternal quality of care. The triple aim of healthcare is quality, safety and satisfaction. As maternity leaders work to improve quality and safety, they still need to address the critical dimension of women’s satisfaction with their birth, whether that experience involved a severe complication or not. Standardizing responses in emergent or routine clinical situations is critical but so is the value of individualizing care. This means examining how emotional, experiential and relational aspects of maternity care affect outcomes, both long and short term. In this session, we will address the important, unasked question in maternity care today: What are the costs of not ‘caring’?