The evidence is everywhere.

It is in the journals.

It is on the internet.

It is in the Cochrane Review Database System.

It is at the National Institute of Health search website: PubMed.

But it may not be at your local hospital....

Why?

Many health care providers, including maternity care health care providers are so busy GIVING care that they have little time in RESEARCHING care.  That is the unfortunate truth ~ rapid and shifting research and too little time to keep up with it!

In the US and in many other countries, maternity health care is experiencing a shift.  Ironically, the shift in the US mirrors the shifts in many other countries. 

This shift is dynamic and alive. The shift is towards evidence-based care.

We began contributing to the shift by creating a website that identifies and coordinates links to the evidence based on topic.  This website is accessible to both parents and professional with internet access: www.thebirthfacts.com.

To contribute to this dynamic shift, we have created this one-day workshop "Evidence Based Maternity Care ~ turning A Ha Moments into Dynamic Practice".  Taught by internationally known author/speaker Connie Livingston BS, RN, FACCE, LCCE, CHBE, CD(DONA), ICCE, IA-T, this workshop represents the best in birth research.

This workshop has as the very foundation of the objectives, the 10 Steps of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative, specifically Steps 1-6. (See Steps below)

In this workshop, we strive to reconstruct the skills necessary to facilitate birth without medications or interventions, to employ upright gravity positive positioning and effective comfort measures, and to create an environment for positive birth outcomes and positive postpartum experiences, including a reduction of Postpartum Emotional Issues and increase in breastfeeding success. 

Ideal for the resident, labor/delivery nurse, OB/GYN office staff and childbirth educators, this workshop carries 6 nursing CEUs and has the research and the practical applications to let you hit the floor running to make changes in your environment.

We offer quantity discounts to facilities (colleges, universities, hospitals or birth centers) who wish to host this workshop!  We bring the workshop to you!  So you can have your staff trained with no travel for them!

Email us or call us (toll free US only) 1-866-88-BIRTH
or (937) 312-0544 for more information or to host a workshop! 
We are booking for the remainder of 2010 and 2011 now.

10 Steps of the International Motherbaby Childbirth Initiative 

Step 1 Treat every woman with respect and dignity, fully informing and involving her in decision making about care for herself and her baby in language that she understands, and providing her the right to informed consent and refusal.

Step 2 Possess and routinely apply midwifery knowledge and skills that enhance and optimize the normal physiology of pregnancy, labour, birth, breastfeeding, and the postpartum period.

Step 3 Inform the mother of the benefits of continuous support during labour and birth, and affirm her right to receive such support from companions of her choice, such as fathers, partners, family members, doulas, or others. Continuous support has been shown to reduce the need for intrapartum analgesia, decrease the rate of operative births and increase mothers’ satisfaction with their birthing experience.

Step 4 Provide drug-free comfort and pain-relief methods during labour, explaining their benefits for facilitating normal birth and avoiding unnecessary harm, and showing women (and their companions) how to use these methods, including touch, holding, massage, labouring in water, and coping/relaxation techniques. Respect women’s preferences and choices.

Step 5 Provide specific evidence-based practices proven to be beneficial in supporting the normal physiology of labour, birth, and the postpartum period.

Step 6 Avoid potentially harmful procedures and practices that have no scientific support for routine or frequent use in normal labour and birth. When considered for a specific situation, their use should be supported by best available evidence that the benefits are likely to outweigh the potential harms and should be fully discussed with the mother to ensure her informed consent.

Step 7 Implement measures that enhance wellness and prevent emergencies, illness, and death of MotherBaby:

• Provide education about and foster access to good nutrition, clean water, and a clean and safe environment;

• Provide education in and access to methods of disease prevention, including malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and tetanus toxoid immunization;

• Provide education in responsible sexuality, family planning, and women’s reproductive rights, and provide access to family planning options;

• Provide supportive prenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, and newborn care that addresses the physical and emotional health of the MotherBaby within the context of family relationships and community environment.

Step 8 Provide access to evidence-based skilled emergency treatment for life-threatening complications. Ensure that all maternal and newborn healthcare providers have adequate and ongoing training in emergency skills for appropriate and timely treatment of mothers and their newborns.

Step 9 Provide a continuum of collaborative maternal and newborn care with all relevant health care providers, institutions and organizations. Include traditional birth attendants and others who attend births out of hospital in this continuum of care. Specifically, individuals within institutions, agencies and organizations offering maternity-related services should:

• Collaborate across disciplinary, cultural, and institutional boundaries to provide the MotherBaby with the best possible care, recognizing each other’s particular competencies and respecting each other’s points of view;

• Foster continuity of care during labour and birth for the MotherBaby from a small number of caregivers;

• Provide consultations and transfers of care in a timely manner to appropriate institutions and specialists;

• Ensure that the mother is aware of and can access available community services specific to her needs and those of her newborn.

Step 10 Strive to achieve the 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding as described in the WHO/UNICEF Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative:

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.

2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement the policy.

3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.

4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth. Place babies in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers immediately following birth for at least an hour and encourage

mothers to recognize when their babies are ready to breastfeed, offering help if needed.

5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they should be separated from their infants.

6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated.

7. Practice “rooming in”-- allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.

8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.

9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants.

10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.