OBJECTIVE To examine associations between doula care, early breastfeeding outcomes, and breastfeeding duration. DESIGN Prospective cohort. SETTING Regional hospital in northern California. PARTICIPANTS Low-income, full gestation primiparae receiving doula care (n=44) or standard care (n=97). MEASURES Birth outcomes and newborn feeding data obtained from the hospital record. Follow-up in...

OBJECTIVE To assess the delivery of advanced specialized medical care using The Partnered Care Model as a means of providing affordable access to all, irrespective of ability to pay. DESIGN AND METHODS A retrospective analysis of all persons presenting to a specialized, private, cardiac unit, The Bahamas Interventional Cardiology Center (BICC), over an 8.5-year period from March 1996 to Septe...

BACKGROUND Integrated health care delivery is a goal of health care systems; to date there has been limited information on the integration of medical care in practice. PURPOSE To examine and compare perceptions of clinical integration and to identify associated strategic, cultural, technical and structural factors. DESIGN AND SETTING A NATIONAL SURVEY ADDRESSED TO: all county administrative...

BACKGROUND External cephalic version (ECV) is infrequently performed and 98% of breech presenting fetuses are delivered surgically. Neuraxial analgesia can increase the success rate of ECV significantly, potentially reducing cesarean delivery rates for breech presentation. The current study aims to determine whether the additional cost to the hospital of spinal anesthesia for ECV is offset by c...

background & aim:  considering the fact that cesarean section (c-section) poses greater risks of maternal and neonatal complications, compared to vaginal delivery, scholars seek different strategies to decrease the prevalence of this surgical procedure. birth ball exercises during pregnancy are among the proposed strategies. thus, this study aimed to determine the effect of using birth ball dur...

This article provides an overview of hospital-based rates of caesarean delivery in 18 Arab countries and the association between these rates and selected demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Data on caesarean section were based on 2 of the most recent national hospital-based surveys in each country and on published studies based on hospital samples. High levels of caesarean delivery w...

Introduction: Although warm water is used for labor pain reduction, there is controversy regarding the potential complications of water birth. Therefore, this study was performed to evaluate fetal and neonatal complications of water birth versus those observed in conventional modes of delivery. Methods:This clinical randomized trial was performed on 200 pregnant women at Mashhad Omolbanin Hosp...

Background Predicting preterm delivery can help obstetricians and midwives for better management of pregnancy care. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship between cervical length and uteroservical angle with the occurrence of preterm delivery. Materials and Methods: The present cohort study was conducted on 100 pregnan...

BACKGROUND Financial reform aims to overcome the problems of financial barriers and utilization of health services. However, it is unclear whether financial reforms or health insurance can reduce delays and/or barriers or if there are still other important obstacles for preventing pregnant women accessing delivery care. This study aimed to assess the effect of health insurance and other factors...

Patient waiting times and service quality problems characterize emergency departments worldwide. The purpose of this research is to develop a reliable decision support system using the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage method to drive improvements in the care delivery process, as part of a hospital Emergency Care Delivery System. Models were developed using first a relatively low fidelity s...