The California Health Care Foundation, California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative,
and Consumer Reports have teamed up to develop a new consumer resource —
My Birth Matters — designed to educate women about the overuse of C-sections and encourage them to engage with their care team to reduce their chances of having an avoidable C-section.
The campaign includes:
Patient-facing website: www.mybirthmatters.org
Communications toolkit for providers with printable brochures and posters
Full description of research methodology behind the campaign messaging and materials
All resources are available for free in both English and Spanish.
Cesarean sections (C-sections) can be important and even lifesaving in some circumstances. However, studies also have found that overuse of C-sections may result in harm and poor outcomes for mothers and babies. More information about CMQCC's commitment to promoting vaginal birth is available on our website.
Visit the patient education website at MyBirthMatters.org and on social media at #MyBirthMatters. Resources for those who would like to join in raising awareness about the campaign can be found at https://goo.gl/jQMr3W.
CMQCC and CDPH Release Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Findings
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) and the Public Health Institute (PHI) released the California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR), a comprehensive statewide examination of maternal deaths from 2002-2007 this spring.
Key findings from CA-PAMR include:
Forty-one percent of pregnancy-related deaths had a good-to-strong chance of preventability.
Cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. *NEW* CMQCC and CDPH also recently released the Improving Health Care Response to Cardiovascular Disease in Pregnancy and Postpartum toolkit
Preeclampsia, obstetric hemorrhage, venous thromboembolism, sepsis, cerebrovascular accident and amniotic fluid embolism were among the top seven causes of pregnancy-related deaths.
Multiple patient, facility and provider factors contributed to pregnancy-related deaths. Common factors included co-morbidities, especially obesity and hypertension; delayed recognition of and response to clinical warning signs; and a lack of institutional readiness for obstetric emergencies.
Racial disparities persist. African-American women were three-to-four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than women of other races and ethnicities.
The full CA-PAMR report including recommendations is available on CDPH and CMQCC's websites.
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