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Return to Learn > Professional Resources and News Releases > News Releases > Leading Midwifery Organization Launches Initiative to Promote Benefits, Tools for Achieving Healthy Childbirth (October 5, 2014)

For Immediate Release

Contact: Damaris Hay
Email:[email protected]
Office: (240) 485-1856












Download the PDF here.











LEADING MIDWIFERY
ORGANIZATION LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE BENEFITS, TOOLS



FOR ACHIEVING HEALTHY
CHILDBIRTH



The American College of Nurse-Midwives Healthy Birth Initiative Helps
to Make More Women,



Health Care Providers, Hospital Managers Champions of Physiologic Birth





Silver Spring, MD
- The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) today introduced ACNM's Healthy Birth Initiative, a new program
that provides resources and tools to help women, their families and health care
providers achieve healthy childbirth. ACNM's Healthy Birth Initiative focuses
on understanding and capitalizing on the natural physiology of birth to avoid
unnecessary medical interventions, including cesareans, in order to achieve the
best childbirth outcomes for mothers and babies.


ACNM's Healthy Birth
Initiative
 also provides evidence-based research to hospital quality managers,
highlighting how improving childbirth optimizes their facilities' quality of
care and supports midwives and other health care providers who are pursuing improved
birth care in their hospitals. The
evidence also helps facilities meet their mandate for national quality
measurement and reporting requirements.


"ACNM's Healthy Birth Initiative takes a
comprehensive look at childbirth in order to better educate women, their
families, maternity care providers, and the maternity care system about the
benefits of physiologic childbirth," said Tanya Tanner, PhD, MBA, RN, CNM and
chair of ACNM's Healthy Birth Initiative
Task Force. "With a philosophy that supports
physiologic birth, midwives understand that the woman alone cannot always
achieve the birth she desires. She and
her family need support from her maternity care team and the facility where she
is going to give birth in order to make it a reality." 


"With the cesarean rate reaching an alarming 33% nationally,
and the cost of maternity care continuing to rise, it's imperative that we create
and share resources that address the safe, high-quality, low-cost care that's
available for women through physiologic birth," Tanner said. "We believe that ACNM's Healthy Birth Initiative can help spread the word and empower
more moms, families, health care providers and health systems to become champions
of physiologic birth." 





For Women and
Families



For women, their families and other consumers interested in
childbirth, ACNM's Healthy Birth
Initiative
 developed "Normal
Healthy Childbirth for Women & Families: What You Need to Know.
"
 This 4-page handout is easy to follow, clearly
explaining and advocating for the benefits of physiologic birth for women and
families. This guide provides an
overview of physiologic birth and tips on how it can be achieved, as well as what
can disrupt the healthy birth process. This
guide was created from a 2012 consensus statement authored by ACNM, the
Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), and the National Association of
Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), the three professional organizations
representing midwives in the US.


Judith Lothian, PhD,
RN, LCCE, and co-chair of ACNM's
Healthy Birth Initiative
 Consumer
Subcommittee, said, "The most important decisions women make about their births
are choosing a health care provider and place of birth. "Normal Healthy Birth for Women and Families: What You Need to Know"
helps women ask the right questions and find health care providers and birth
settings that will increase their chances of having a normal, physiologic
birth."


The consumer guide includes
the endorsement of several major women's health organizations: Lamaze,
Centering Healthcare, DONA, Citizens for Midwifery, International Center for
Traditional Childbearing, Childbirth Connection,a program of the National
Partnership for Women & Families, and International Lactation Consultant
Association, and it has the support of the March of Dimes. Available in English and Spanish, the guide
is free for download, printing, and distribution. Professionally printed copies
in packs of 50 are available for purchase through ACNM at ShopACNM.com.


For Clinicians


As part of ACNM's Healthy Birth Initiative, maternity care providers now have a new physiologic
birth toolkit at www.BirthTOOLS.org. Developed by ACNM in consultation with
Childbirth Connection, the site provides tools, resources and guidelines for
maternity care professionals to use to support, promote and facilitate
physiologic birth. BirthTOOLS (Tools for
Optimizing the Outcomes of Labor Safely) walks providers through evidence that
supports care practices for physiologic birth.
The site assists clinicians and health care systems in implementing best
practices to achieve optimal health outcomes for mothers, babies and families.


The BirthTOOLS site
uses a quality improvement framework to guide clinicians in the process of
initiating evidence based changes to promote physiologic birth by auditing the
impact of the change. The website brings best practice resources and tools from
a variety of organizations to one location, organized for easy access by clinicians,
unit leaders and hospital system managers.
Linkages between national quality measures and specific care changes are
highlighted.


"BirthTOOLS.org
helps maternity care professionals make physiologic birth a reality," said Lisa
Kane Low, PhD, CNM, FACNM and chair of ACNM's Healthy Birth Initiative Toolkit Subcommittee. "The organization of the site, including a tool box
function which allows quick access to resources on a specific topic, and unique
stories of improvement from providers and health systems highlighting their
experiences, make this an ideal web resource for all professionals providing
maternity care." 


The site was developed with consultants from Childbirth
Connection, a program of the National Partnership, in collaboration with a
committee comprised of ACNM members and representatives from the Association of
Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), the National
Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), and Lamaze
International.


For Quality Managers


ACNM's Healthy Birth
Initiative
 also created the handout,
"Birth
Matters
," which explores how medical interventions in labor have been misused,
resulting in poorer health outcomes, reduction in the quality of care,
substantial increases in cost, and fewer choices for women. Directed to hospital quality managers, the
handout describes the benefits of healthy, physiologic birth to the women and
families they serve, and to health care facilities' quality outcome measures
and patient satisfaction scores.


"As a result of
reporting measures issued by the Joint Commission and
the National Quality Forum, hospitals and health care providers must now pay
attention to processes and procedures around birth," said MaryJane Lewitt, PhD,
CNM and chair of ACNM's Healthy
Birth Initiative
 Maternity Care
System Subcommittee. "With "Birth Matters",
we now have a tool to illustrate how healthy birth benefits hospitals and
organizations, in addition to mothers and babies."


"Birth Matters"
was developed under the leadership of ACNM in consultation with representatives
from AWHONN, Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association (CAPPA) and
quality and safety leaders from various facilities across the US. Copies
of this guide are available for free for download, printing, and distribution.
Professionally printed copies in packs of 50 are available for purchase through
ACNM at ShopACNM.com.


###


The American College
of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) is the professional association that represents
certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and certified midwives (CMs) in the United
States. ACNM promotes excellence in midwifery education, clinical practice, and
research. With roots dating to 1929, our members are primary care providers for
women throughout the lifespan, with a special emphasis on pregnancy,
childbirth, and gynecologic and reproductive health. ACNM provides research,
administers and promotes continuing education programs, establishes clinical
practice standards, and creates liaisons with state and federal agencies and
members of Congress to increase the visibility and recognition of midwifery
care.



8403 Colesville Road, Ste. 1550, Silver Spring, MD 20910-6374
* Phone: (240) 485-1800 * Fax: (240) 485-1818 * www.midwife.org








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Phone: 240.485.1800
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