The international organization known as the Cochrane Collaboration, and its predecessors, have produced an impressive body of systematic reviews about the safety and effectiveness of a broad range of maternity care practices. The reviews are primarily developed from carefully identified and evaluated controlled trials. They have been published for over a decade in various printed and electronic formats, and are regularly updated, revised, and reissued. No other clinical area has a database of comparable scope or quality for evaluating the effectiveness of its practices. These exceptional resources for policy, practice, education, and research are vastly underutilized in the United States. Despite the public health community's commitment to maternal and infant health, it is difficult to find acknowledgment of the existence of these resources in public health discourse. This presentation will discuss the origins of this body of systematic reviews, the process by which they are created, the measures that have been established to help ensure the quality of the reviews, ways to gain access to the full reviews and to summaries, and opportunities for participation in the creation or improvement of these reviews. On a smaller scale, other organizations and agencies have also begun to develop and issue formal evidence reports on maternity care topics.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to: (1) identify Cochrane Collaboration resources regarding the effectiveness and safety of maternity practices, (2) describe the process by which these resources are developed, (3) understand opportunities for participation in the development or improvement of these resources, and (4) be aware of other efforts, on a smaller scale, to organize and present evidence regarding maternity practices
Keywords: Evidence Based Practice, Maternal Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Cochrane Collaboration
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.