INTRODUCTION The imperative to diversify the health care workforce is evident: increased diversity contributes to the overall health of the nation. Given persistent racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes, workforce diversity is particularly urgent in the context of clinical and supportive care during pregnancy and childbirth. The goal of this analysis was to characterize the intentions and motivations of racially and ethnically diverse women who chose to become doulas (maternal support professionals) and to describe their early doula careers, including the experiences that sustain their work. METHODS In 2014, 12 women of color in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, metropolitan area (eg, African American, Somali, Hmong, Latina, American Indian) applied and were selected (from a pool of 58) to receive doula training and certification. In January and February 2015, we conducted semistructured interviews (30 to 90 minutes) with the newly trained doulas. We used an inductive qualitative approach to analyze key themes related to motivation and satisfaction with doula work. RESULTS For many of the women of color we interviewed, the underlying motivation for becoming a doula was related directly to a desire to support women from the doula's own racial, ethnic, and cultural community. Other key themes related to both motivation and satisfaction included perceiving birth work as a calling, easing women's transitions to motherhood by "holding space," honoring the ritual and ceremony of childbirth, and providing culturally competent support, often as the sole source of cultural knowledge during labor and birth. DISCUSSION Doulas of color have a strong commitment to supporting women from their communities. Given the evidence linking doula support to improved birth outcomes, successful recruitment and retention of women of color as doulas may support broader efforts to reduce long-standing disparities in birth outcomes.

PURPOSE The goal of this study was to assess perspectives of racially/ethnically diverse, low-income pregnant women on how doula services (nonmedical maternal support) may influence the outcomes of pregnancy and childbirth. METHODS We conducted 4 in-depth focus group discussions with low-income pregnant women. We used a selective coding scheme based on 5 themes (agency, personal security, connectedness, respect, and knowledge) identified in the Good Birth framework, and we analyzed salient themes in the context of the Gelberg-Anderson behavioral model and the social determinants of health. RESULTS Participants identified the role doulas played in mitigating the effects of social determinants. The 5 themes of the Good Birth framework characterized the means by which nonmedical support from doulas influenced the pathways between social determinants of health and birth outcomes. By addressing health literacy and social support needs, pregnant women noted that doulas affect access to and the quality of health care services received during pregnancy and birth. CONCLUSIONS Access to doula services for pregnant women who are at risk of poor birth outcomes may help to disrupt the pervasive influence of social determinants as predisposing factors for health during pregnancy and childbirth.

BACKGROUND One in nine US infants is born before 37 weeks' gestation, incurring medical costs 10 times higher than full-term infants. One in three infants is born by cesarean; cesarean births cost twice as much as vaginal births. We compared rates of preterm and cesarean birth among Medicaid recipients with prenatal access to doula care (nonmedical maternal support) with similar women regionally. We used data on this association to mathematically model the potential cost-effectiveness of Medicaid coverage of doula services. METHODS Data came from two sources: all Medicaid-funded, singleton births at hospitals in the West North Central and East North Central US (n = 65,147) in the 2012 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, and all Medicaid-funded singleton births (n = 1,935) supported by a community-based doula organization in the Upper Midwest from 2010 to 2014. We analyzed routinely collected, de-identified administrative data. Multivariable regression analysis was used to estimate associations between doula care and outcomes. A probabilistic decision-analytic model was used for cost-effectiveness estimates. RESULTS Women who received doula support had lower preterm and cesarean birth rates than Medicaid beneficiaries regionally (4.7 vs 6.3%, and 20.4 vs 34.2%). After adjustment for covariates, women with doula care had 22 percent lower odds of preterm birth (AOR 0.77 [95% CI 0.61-0.96]). Cost-effectiveness analyses indicate potential savings associated with doula support reimbursed at an average of $986 (ranging from $929 to $1,047 across states). CONCLUSIONS Based on associations between doula care and preterm and cesarean birth, coverage reimbursement for doula services would likely be cost saving or cost-effective for state Medicaid programs.

Many hospitals are adopting quality improvement strategies in obstetrics. This study characterized rural U.S. hospitals based on their hospital staffing and clinical management policies for labor induction and cesarean delivery, and assessed the relationship between policies and performance on maternity care quality. We surveyed all 306 rural maternity hospitals in nine states and used data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statewide Inpatient Database hospital discharge database. We found staffing policies were more prevalent at lower-volume hospitals (92% vs. 86% for cesarean and 82% vs. 79%, both p < .01). Using multivariable logistic regression, we found hospitals with policies for cesarean delivery had up to 24% lower odds of low-risk cesarean (adjusted odds ratio = 0.76; 95% confidence interval=[0.67-0.86]) and non-indicated cesarean (0.78 [0.70-0.88]), with variability across birth volume. Clinical management and staffing policies are common, but not universal, among rural U.S. hospitals providing obstetric services and are generally positively associated with quality.

Structural racism leads to increased rates of premature death and reduced levels of overall health and well-being — an epidemic affecting our whole society. As clinicians and researchers, we wield power, privilege, and responsibility for dismantling structural racism.

Objectives This study aims to examine the relationship between hospital birth volume and multiple maternal morbidities among low-risk pregnancies in rural hospitals, urban non-teaching hospitals, and urban teaching hospitals, using a representative sample of U.S. hospitals. Study Design Using the 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 607 hospitals, we identified 508,146 obstetric deliveries meeting low-risk criteria and compared outcomes across hospital volume categories. Outcomes include postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), chorioamnionitis, endometritis, blood transfusion, severe perineal laceration, and wound infection. Results Hospital birth volume was more consistently related to PPH than to other maternal outcomes. Lowest-volume rural (< 200 births) and non-teaching (< 650 births) hospitals had 80% higher odds (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.80; 95% CI = 1.56-2.08) and 39% higher odds (AOR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.26-1.53) of PPH respectively, than those in corresponding high-volume hospitals. However, in urban teaching hospitals, delivering in a lower-volume hospital was associated with 14% lower odds of PPH (AOR = 0.86; 95% CI = 0.80-0.93). Deliveries in rural hospitals had 31% higher odds of PPH than urban teaching hospitals (AOR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.13-1.53). Conclusions Low birth volume was a risk factor for PPH in both rural and urban non-teaching hospitals, but not in urban teaching hospitals, where higher volume was associated with greater odds of PPH.

In summer 2015, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck down a restriction that would have prevented physicians from administering a medication abortion remotely through video teleconferencing. In its ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court stated that the restriction would have placed an undue burden on a woman's right to access abortion services. It is crucially important for clinicians--especially primary care clinicians, obstetrician-gynecologists (ob-gyns), and all health care providers of telemedicine services--to understand the implications of this recent ruling, especially in rural settings. The Court's decision has potential ramifications across the country, for both women's access to abortion and the field of telemedicine. Today telemedicine abortion is available only in Iowa and Minnesota; 18 states have adopted bans on it. If telemedicine abortions are indeed being unconstitutionally restricted as the Iowa Supreme Court determined, court decisions reversing these bans could improve access to abortion services for the 21 million reproductive-age women living in these 18 states, which have a limited supply of ob-gyns, mostly concentrated in urban, metropolitan areas. Beyond the potential effects on abortion access, we argue that the Court's decision also has broader implications for telemedicine, by limiting the role of state boards of medicine regarding the restriction of politically controversial medical services when provided through telemedicine. The interplay between telemedicine policy, abortion politics, and the science of medicine is at the heart of the Court's decision and has meaning beyond Iowa's borders for reproductive-age women across the United States.

BACKGROUND: Most women who give birth in United States hospitals receive neuraxial analgesia to manage pain during labor. In this analysis, we examined themes of the patient experience of neuraxial analgesia among a national sample of U.S. mothers. METHODS: Data are from the Listening to Mothers II survey, conducted among a national sample of women who delivered a singleton baby in a U.S. hospital in 2005 (N = 1,573). Our study population consisted of women who experienced labor, did not deliver by planned cesarean, and who reported neuraxial analgesia use (n = 914). We analyzed open-ended responses about the best and worst parts of women's birth experiences for themes related to neuraxial analgesia using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-three percent of women (n = 300) mentioned neuraxial analgesia in their open-ended responses. We found that effective pain relief was frequently spontaneously mentioned as a key positive theme in women's experiences with neuraxial analgesia. However, some women perceived timing-related challenges with neuraxial analgesia, including waiting in pain for neuraxial analgesia, receiving neuraxial analgesia too late in labor, or feeling that the pain relief from neuraxial analgesia wore off too soon, as negative aspects. Other themes in women's experiences with neuraxial analgesia were information and consent, adverse effects of neuraxial analgesia, and plans and expectations. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this analysis underscored the fact that women appreciate the effective pain relief that neuraxial analgesia provides during childbirth. Although pain control was 1 important facet of women's experiences with neuraxial analgesia, their experiences were also influenced by other factors. Anesthesiologists can work with obstetric clinicians, nurses, childbirth educators, and pregnant and laboring patients to help mitigate some of the challenges with timing, communication, neuraxial analgesia administration, or expectations that may have contributed to negative aspects of women's birth experiences.