Although Boston has experienced declines in infant mortality rates for over a decade, the percent of births that are low-birth weight have not changed significantly and racial disparities in infant mortality between black and white babies persist. An analysis of infant deaths occurring between 1992-95 revealed that a significant percentage of infant deaths were attributable to the health of the mother prior to conception and results of interviews conducted during an Infant Mortality Review also revealed that women experienced lack of continuity of care, disconnection from their providers and lack of services for social problems identified during pregnancy. These findings motivated the Boston Public Health Commission to establish the Health of Women and Infants Working Group (HWIWG) to explore options for improving care for women across the city as an approach to addressing infant mortality. The HWIWG, a coalition of providers, policy makers, and representatives from city and state departments of health, hospitals, health centers, medical and public health schools, insurers, and the community, designed a project to improve comprehensive care for reproductive aged women. The project is being piloted in two community health centers and a hospital based primary care clinic. The project includes comprehensive screening for medical and social risks, provider education, consumer education, linkage to resources and evaluation.
Learning Objectives: Participants will learn about the factors related to the health of women prior to pregnancy that contribute to poor birth outcomes. By the end of the session participants will be able to articulate a comprehensive approach to screening women for medical and social risk factors for poor pregnancy outocmes. At the conclusion of the session the participant will be able to dscribe the components of a comprehensive primary care assessment, recommend approaches to linking women to social and medical services, describe compenents of comprehensive care for women, discuss factors in the provider/patient interaction that influence care
Keywords: Women's Quality Care, Infant Mortality
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.