Disruptive Innovation in Childbirth Care

In considering what to write for Disruptive Women in Health Care, I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea of disruption juxtaposed with the experience of birth and the US maternity care system.
In the context of maternity care, the concept of “disruption” hints at intriguingly different possible meanings: the consequences of a newborn entering a family, disruption during the childbirth process, or the urgent need for disruptive innovation in maternity care.
Birth itself is an absolute disruption of the status quo. Birth can be tumultuous, even when it is a joyous occasion. It is a turning point, beyond which things are never the same for those who give birth and those who incorporate a newborn into their lives, not to mention for the baby who is born.
Disruption of the process of birth is a different type of disruption. Few things are as important to a positive birth experience as feeling safe, private, and calm – in other words, being free from intrusion and interference. As we have come to better understand hormonally driven childbearing processes, we have learned that the time around birth is highly sensitive for mother and baby. Practices that protect physiologic childbearing from disturbance may have longstanding and significant benefits.
A recent, comprehensive synthesis of the medical literature authored by Sarah Buckley in collaboration with Childbirth Connection investigated the impact of common maternity care practices and interventions on the physiologic pr...

Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - September 16, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Childbirth Innovation Source Type: blogs