Improving Maternal Health Care Quality and Outcomes: Evaluation of a Pregnancy Medical Home.

Current maternal care recommendations in the United States focus on monitoring fetal development, management of pregnancy complications, and screening for behavioral health concerns. Often missing from these recommendations is support for patients experiencing socioeconomic or behavioral health challenges during pregnancy. A Pregnancy Medical Home (PMH) is a multidisciplinary maternal health care team with nurse navigators serving as patient advocates to improve the quality of care a patient receives and health outcomes for both mother and infant. Using bivariate comparisons between PMH patients and reference groups, as well as interviews with project team members and PMH graduates, this evaluation assessed the impact of a PMH at an academic medical university on patient care and birth outcomes. This PMH increased depression screenings during pregnancy and increased referrals to behavioral health care. This evaluation did not find improvements in maternal or infant birth outcomes. Interviews found notable successes and areas for program enhancement.

Prevalence and Predictors of Low Birth Weight in a Rural Guatemalan Community.

BACKGROUND: The intention of our study was to establish the prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) as well as risk factors for LBW in infants born to a convenience sample of women enrolled in a home visitation maternal care program associated with the Center for Human Development in Southwest Trifinio, Guatemala. METHODS: This is an observational study analyzing self-reported data from a quality improvement database. We recorded the distribution of birthweights of infants born to women enrolled in Madres Sanas that delivered between October 2018 and December 2019. We grouped women by LBW (<2500g ) and adequate birthweight (≥2500g) infants, and performed bivariate comparisons using sociodemographic, obstetric, and intrapartum data. Using the independent variables shown to have an association with LBW, we then performed a multivariable analysis. RESULTS: There were 226 births among our program participants, 218 with recorded birthweights. The median birthweight was 3175g; 13.8% were LBW (<2500g), higher than Guatemala's average of 10.9%. Through our bivariate analysis, we determined women with LBW infants were younger, with a median age of 20.8 (IQR [17.8-23.7]) compared to a median age of 23.2 (IQR [19.8-27.3]) among women with infants ≥2500g (P=0.03). Women with LBW infants were also more likely to have fewer than 4 prenatal visits (33.3% vs 19.3%, P=0.04). CONCLUSION: Two significant findings emerged from our analysis: LBW infants were more commonly born to women who were younger in age and who had received fewer than 4 prenatal visits. These findings are consistent with existing literature on LBW in Latin America. Our study helps to strengthen the data around these associations and gives credence to programming and policy efforts in Latin America that support adequate prenatal care for all and youth education about reproductive health and contraceptive access.

Use of Postpartum Birth Control in Rural Women in Southwest Guatemala: Analysis of a Quality-Improvement Database.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to observe the prevalence of postpartum contraceptive use in a population of rural women in Southwest Guatemala by type, and to determine characteristics associated with long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) use and sterilization. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of prospectively collected quality improvement data from a cohort of postpartum women. We compared women intending to use or already using contraception to those not intending to utilize a method; bivariate comparisons were used to determine if there were differences in characteristics between these groups. If differences occurred (p < 0.2), those covariates were included in multivariable regression analyses to determine characteristics associated with use, and then specifically with LARC use and sterilization. RESULTS: In a cohort of 424 women who were surveyed between 2015-2017, the average age was 23 years old, and the prevalence of use or plan to use postpartum contraception was 87.5%. Women with a parity of 2 - 3 were 10% more likely to use any form of postpartum birth control (RR 1.1, CI [1.01, 1.2]) compared to primiparous women. Women who were married were also more likely to use a postpartum method (RR > 10, CI [>10,>10]). The prevalence of LARC use was low (4.0%), and women were more likely to choose this method if they were employed (RR 3.5 CI [1.1, 11.3]).Regarding sterilization, women with a parity of greater than one compared to primiparous women had an increased likelihood of sterilization (RR 3.6 CI [2.5,4.9]); each year a woman aged was associated with a 10% increased likelihood of postpartum sterilization (RR 1.1 CI [1.01,1.08]). Women were also more likely to choose sterilization if delivered by a skilled birth attendant (RR 1.8 CI [1.1,2.9]) or by cesarean birth (RR 2.1 CI [1.4,3.1]). CONCLUSION: In this cohort, married women of higher parity were more likely to use postpartum contraception, with employed women more likely to use a LARC method. Older women of higher parity who were delivered by a skilled attendant by cesarean birth were the most likely to pursue sterilization.

Pilot Study of Physiologic Partograph Use Among Low-Risk, Nulliparous Women With Spontaneous Labor Onset.

INTRODUCTION: Neal and Lowe developed a physiologic partograph to give clinicians an evidence-based, uniform approach to assessing active labor progress and diagnosing dystocia in high-resource settings. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility of implementing the Neal and Lowe partograph for in-hospital labor assessment. METHODS: A descriptive study of low-risk, nulliparous women with spontaneous labor onset was performed at an academic medical center. Eight certified nurse-midwives from a single practice used the Neal and Lowe partograph for the assessment of labor progress. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize characteristics, interventions, and outcomes for women with partograph-assessed labors. Labors assessed by nurse-midwives (n = 83) or obstetricians (n = 75) using their usual assessment strategies were also described for the year prior to partograph introduction to contextualize partograph-assessed labor findings. Inferential statistical tests were not performed. RESULTS: Thirty-one of 34 (91.2%) partographs were used correctly. Seventy-one percent (n = 22) of these women progressed to complete dilatation within expected physiologic time frames while the remaining women (n = 9) experienced labor dystocia. Similar proportions of women in the partograph and usual labor assessment groups received oxytocin during labor. The cesarean rate was lower in the partograph group than in the usual care groups. No cesareans were performed for dystocia in active labor for women whose labors were assessed via partograph. DISCUSSION: Implementation of the Neal and Lowe partograph for in-hospital labor assessment is feasible. Incorrect plotting and/or interpretation of the partograph may be further minimized by providing clinicians opportunities for ongoing partograph training after implementation or through partograph software development. The Neal and Lowe partograph may assist clinicians in safely and significantly decreasing primary cesarean births performed for active labor dystocia in high-resource settings. Larger scale, hypothesis-testing studies of partograph implementation are now warranted.