conclusions the quality gap in the services provided by maternity units showed that these units are not able to meet pregnant women’s expectations completely. the negative quality gaps can be used as a guideline to improve the maternal health care quality and reduce maternal mortality, particularly in high-risk women such as those living in rural areas. results there was a negative gap in all d...

BACKGROUND Maternal mortality and morbidity are public health problems in Nepal. In rural communities, many women give birth at home without the support of a skilled birth attendant, despite the existence of rural birthing centers. The aim of this study was to explore the barriers and provide pragmatic recommendations for better service delivery and use of rural birthing centers. METHODS We c...

The implementation of a new birthing facility in a country such as Brazil requires an extensive in-depth analysis of the challenges faced. The aim of this study was to explore beliefs, values, experiences, and practices related to the provision of birthing and neonatal care with the implementation of a new birth care facility structure called alongside midwifery units in Brazil. The study utili...

This was a descriptive and retrospective study of 2,117 deliveries from January 2002 to July 2003 at the Dr. David Capistrano da Costa Filho Birthing Center in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Widespread questions have been raised concerning the quality of services provided at birthing centers by obstetric nurses. The results of the current study were: 11.4% maternal transfer rate; 2.2% ce...

Although still relatively rare, out-of-hospital births have accounted for a growing share of U.S. births since 2004. In 2012, 1.36% of U.S. births were born outside a hospital, up from 1.26% in 2011 and 0.87% in 2004. The 2012 level is the highest level since 1975. Most of the total increase in out-of-hospital births from 2004–2012 was a result of the increase among non-Hispanic white women, an...

Purpose: To further develop an ergonomic birthing support for increasing comfortable postures for midwives and mothers during deliveries. Methods and Results: First, the prototype of the birthing support and six birthing postures were tested with 8 midwives, 2 physicians, and 10 pregnant women in the last month of their pregnancy using visual analogue scales (VASs) and the System Usability Scal...

AIM To describe birthing outcomes among women who consumed castor oil cocktail as part of a freestanding birth center labor induction protocol. METHODS De-identified data from birth logs and electronic medical records were entered into SPSS Statistics 22.0 for analysis for all women who received the castor oil cocktail (n=323) to induce labor between January 2008 and May 2015 at a birth cente...

...................................................................................06 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................07 CHAPTER 1: OJIBWE BIRTHING AND MOTHERHOOD IN LOUISE ERDRICH’S THE PAINTED DRUM .......................................................24 CHAPTER 2: CHEROKEE BIRTHING AND MOTHERHOOD IN BETTY LOUISE BELL’S FACES IN THE M...

PURPOSE Recent national guidelines encourage a trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) as a means of increasing vaginal births after cesarean (VBACs) and decreasing the high US cesarean birth rate and its consequences (2010 National Institute of Health Consensus Statement and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists revised guideline). A birthing center serving Amish women in Southwest...