This article adds to the debate on appropriate staffing in maternity units. My starting point for assessing staffing norms is the staff required to provide a safe maternity unit. A survey in 12 districts showed that their health facilities were not adequately prepared to perform all the essential emergency services required. Lack of staff was often cited as a reason. To test this notion, two no...

Temperate zone bats may be more sensitive to climate change than other groups of mammals because many aspects of their ecology are closely linked to temperature. However, few studies have tried to predict the responses of bats to climate change. The Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) is a federally listed endangered species that is found in the eastern United States. The northerly distribution of Ind...

BACKGROUND For most women, participation in decision-making during maternity care has a positive impact on their childbirth experiences. Shared decision-making (SDM) is widely advocated as a way to support people in their healthcare choices. The aim of this study was to identify quality criteria and professional competencies for applying shared decision-making in maternity care. We focused on d...

INTRODUCTION In Australia, over 50% of small rural maternity units have been closed in the past two decades. Workforce shortages, safety and quality concerns and cost considerations are the three interrelated reasons that have led to these closures. Women and families face many challenges when these critical services are absent from their local communities. In an effort to continue to provide m...

The ‘Maternity Dashboard’ is a clinical performance and governance score card which enables monitoring of various pre-selected parameters at a regular (monthly) interval. Local, regional or national goals or benchmarks are used to compare the current performance against expected standards. This would help not only to identify and promote areas of good clinical practice to safeguard patient care...

BACKGROUND Luapula Province has the highest maternal mortality and one of the lowest facility-based births in Zambia. The distance to facilities limits facility-based births for women in rural areas. In 2013, the government incorporated maternity homes into the health system at the community level to increase facility-based births and reduce maternal mortality. To examine the experiences with m...

We aimed to develop a maternity hospital classification, using stable and easily available criteria, that would have wide application in maternity services research and allow comparison across state, national and international jurisdictions. A classification with 13 obstetric groupings (12 hospital groups and home births) was based on neonatal care capability, urban and rural location, annual a...

BACKGROUND Weight stigma is pervasive in Western society and in healthcare settings, and has a negative impact on victims' psychological and physical health. In the context of an increasing focus on the management of overweight and obese women during and after pregnancy in research and clinical practice, the current studies aimed to examine the presence of weight stigma in maternity care. Addre...

BACKGROUND In Australia, women who give birth are transitioned from maternity services to child and health services once their baby is born. This horizontal integration of services is known as Transition of Care (ToC). Little is known of the scope and processes of ToC for new mothers and the most effective way to provide continuity of services. The aim of this paper is to explore and describe t...

OBJECTIVE To assess milk feeding on the maternity ward and during infancy, and their relationship to sociodemographic determinants. The validity of our 3-month questionnaire in measuring hospital feeding was assessed. DESIGN A prospective Finnish birth cohort with increased risk to type 1 diabetes recruited between 1996 and 2004. The families completed a follow-up form on the age at introduct...