Standardizing Maternity Care Data to Improve Coordination of Care.

The amount of data generated by health information technology systems is staggering, and using those data to make meaningful care decisions that improve patient outcomes is difficult. The purpose of this article is to describe the Maternal Health Information Initiative, a multidisciplinary group of maternity care stakeholders charged with standardizing maternity care data. Complementary strategies that practicing clinicians can use to support this initiative and improve the usability of maternity care data are provided.

The American College of Nurse-Midwives Clarity in Collaboration Project: Describing Midwifery Care in Interprofessional Collaborative Care Models.

In 2014, the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) launched a project called Clarity in Collaboration to develop data definitions related to midwifery and maternity care delivery processes. These definitions are needed to ensure midwifery care delivered in collaborative care models is accurately and consistently captured in clinical documentation systems, data registries, and systems being developed as part of health care restructuring and payment reform. The Clarity in Collaboration project builds on the efforts of the Women's Health Registry Alliance (WHRA), which was recently established by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Clarity in Collaboration mirrored the process used by ReVITALize, WHRA's first maternity data standardization project, which focused on establishing standardized clinical data definitions for obstetrics. The ACNM Clarity in Collaboration project brought together maternity and midwifery care experts to complete a year-long consensus process, including a period of public comment, resulting in development of 20 concept definitions. These definitions can be used to describe midwifery care within the context of collaborative care models. This article provides a summary of the ACNM Clarity in Collaboration process with discussion of implications for maternity data collection.

mHealth for midwives: a call to action.

The use of mobile phones has grown exponentially in the last decade including in some of the most remote and low-resource regions of the world. With the geographic expansion of mobile phone use, information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) was born, and innovative uses for mobile technologies in various fields including health care have emerged. This use of mobile technology in health care is known as mHealth. mHealth interventions are being used internationally to improve maternal and child health. Be it the use of a mobile phone to call for emergency transport, remote consultation, or large-scale short message service (SMS)-based community education programs, mHealth is demonstrating its utility in reproductive health programs throughout the world. This article describes the evolution and challenges of mHealth, discusses the role of mHealth in achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, and addresses the potential impact of mHealth for midwives. mHealth represents a new area of global health that warrants the attention of midwifery advocates. Midwifery leadership in the field of mHealth at this early stage of its development will ensure future health programming that is relevant to the needs of women and the midwives who care for them.

Maternal and child health in yushu, qinghai province, china.

INTRODUCTION: Surmang, Qinghai Province is a rural nomadic Tibetan region in western China recently devastated by the 2010 Yushu earthquake; little information is available on access and coverage of maternal and child health services. METHODS: A cross-sectional household survey was conducted in August 2004. 402 women of reproductive age (15-50) were interviewed regarding their pregnancy history, access to and utilization of health care, and infant and child health care practices. RESULTS: Women's access to education was low at 15% for any formal schooling; adult female literacy was <20%. One third of women received any antenatal care during their last pregnancy. Institutional delivery and skilled birth attendance were <1%, and there were no reported cesarean deliveries. Birth was commonly attended by a female relative, and 8% of women delivered alone. Use of unsterilized instrument to cut the umbilical cord was nearly universal (94%), while coverage for tetanus toxoid immunization was only 14%. Traditional Tibetan healers were frequently sought for problems during pregnancy (70%), the post partum period (87%), and for childhood illnesses (74%). Western medicine (61%) was preferred over Tibetan medicine (9%) for preventive antenatal care. The average time to reach a health facility was 4.3 hours. Postpartum infectious morbidity appeared to be high, but only 3% of women with postpartum problems received western medical care. 64% of recently pregnant women reported that they were very worried about dying in childbirth. The community reported 3 maternal deaths and 103 live births in the 19 months prior to the survey. CONCLUSIONS: While China is on track to achieve national Millennium Development Goal targets for maternal and child health, women and children in Surmang suffer from substantial health inequities in access to antenatal, skilled birth and postpartum care. Institutional delivery, skilled attendance and cesarean delivery are virtually inaccessible, and consequently maternal and infant morbidity and mortality are likely high. Urgent action is needed to improve access to maternal, neonatal and child health care in these marginalized populations. The reconstruction after the recent earthquake provides a unique opportunity to link this population with the health system.