Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116253

Ellen Hutchins, ScD, MSW¹, Kathy Buckley, MSN², and Sarah Shaefer, PhD². (1) Division of Healthy Start and Perinatal Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Parklawn Bldg, Rm18-12, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301.443.9534, ehutchins@hrsa.gov, (2) National FIMR Program, 409 12 Street, SW, Washington, DC, DC 20004

Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) is a comprehensive method that examines that the death of an infant and mobilizes community action to improve services and resources. FIMR information complements local population-based fetal and infant mortality data.

According to the national evaluation of FIMR conducted by The Women's and Children's Health Policy Center at the Johns Hopkins University, which evaluated the status of FIMR from 1996 - 1999, the FIMR process enhances the ability of local health departments to carry out core MCH public health functions.

But what of the status of FIMR in 2005? The National FIMR (NFIMR) Resource Center - a partnership between the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau - is publishing a new detailed national directory of all FIMR projects. The Directory includes core elements of each active FIMR project including but not limited to community/geographic area of focus of each local FIMR project; year when review of cases first began and total number of years reviewing cases; number and type of cases reviewed; number of home interviews conducted and percent of case reviews that include a home interview; project funding sources; type of coalition structure; types of community interventions implemented; and examples of successful interventions. These data were collected in early 2005 and therefore provides a current status report on local FIMR activities.

Learning Objectives: