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Alerts & Responses is a vehicle for Childbirth Connection to provide perspective on new data or an event of great importance to women and newborns. For example, a study might clarify important direction for practice or might be the subject of confusion and misunderstanding in media coverage. As always, our priority is to help ensure that women and their caregivers can make informed, evidence-based decisions. Each alert includes a companion page for women with Childbirth Connection's clear, succinct advice about the topic in question, including tips for obtaining appropriate care. To learn more about what constitutes an evidence-based approach, visit our page on evidence-based care. If you'd like to be notified when we post new Alerts, you can sign up to receive an email by registering (free) or updating your account. Inside Alerts & Responses:Draft Report on National Perinatal Performance Measures: Highlights with Broad Relevance to Childbearing Women and FamiliesThe National Quality Forum (NQF) has released a draft report on national measures for evaluating perinatal care. The report proposes measures for NQF endorsement, measures that are not recommended for endorsement, and priority topics for needed measures that are not currently available. NQF welcomes public comment on these matters until June 11, 2008. Childbirth Connection and the National Partnership for Women and Families have collaborated to identify the measures of special interest to a large proportion of childbearing women and families.Go to Draft Report on National Perinatal Performance Measures  Consumer Groups Raise Concerns about Restrictive Place of Birth PolicyChildbirth Connection and other consumer-focused organizations have serious concerns about a recent American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) policy statement that restricts women's choices about place of birth. This alert summarizes the issues, points to best evidence on this matter, provides access to the groups' letter to ACOG, and provides advice for women about choosing place of birth.Go to Policies and Evidence About Place of Birth UPDATED: NIH Cesarean Conference: Interpreting Meeting and Media ReportsOn March 27-29, 2006, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) held a state-of-the-science conference entitled "Cesarean Delivery on Maternal Request." At the end of the meeting, a multi-disciplinary panel issued a draft statement, also called "Cesarean Delivery on Maternal Request," about a commissioned evidence report and other results presented and discussed at the conference. Childbirth Connection leaders followed this process since the planning stage of the report and attended the conference.Go to NIH Cesarean Conference Mothers Report Cesarean Views and Experiences: National SurveyThe second national U.S. Listening to Mothers survey was carried out in January-February 2006 among women who gave birth in 2005. The survey included many questions that provide timely, previously unavailable knowledge about evolving issues. This alert summarizes initial new data that shed light on current deliberations about cesarean section and vaginal birth.Go to Mothers Report Cesarean Views and Experiences Sharp Rise in C-Section Rate Defies Best Evidence and Best PracticeThe U.S. c-section rate jumped to 29.1% in 2004. This record-setting preliminary figure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention represents a sharp increase of more than 40% over 8 years (Hamilton 2005). This alert looks at why the cesarean rate is rising and financial implications.Go to Sharp Rise in C-Section Rate Defies Best Evidence and Best Practice JAMA Study on Routine EpisiotomyKatherine Hartmann and colleagues have published a new systematic review about effects of routine episiotomy on women. It is important for pregnant women and their caregivers to understand lessons from this research, which is detailed in this alert.Go to JAMA Study on Routine Episiotomy NEJM Study on Pain Medication and C-SectionOn February 17, 2005, a new study was published about the timing of labor pain medication in the New England Journal of Medicine by Cynthia Wong and colleagues. Many media reports were providing misleading coverage. Childbirth Connection prepared the following information to help visitors interpret this study.Go to NEJM Study on Pain Medication and C-Section Most recent page update: 6/2/2008
© 2010 Childbirth Connection. All rights reserved.
Childbirth Connection is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1918 as Maternity Center Association. Our mission is to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy and policy. Childbirth Connection promotes safe, effective and satisfying evidence-based maternity care and is a voice for the needs and interests of childbearing families. |
News and Features : Health Professionals
New VBAC Guidlines
ACOG has just issued new Guidlines for VBAC. What changed? What continues? We've Moved!
On July 1, 2010, the Childbirth Connection office moved to 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016. All other contact information is unchanged. "2020 Vision" and "Blueprint for Action" Reports Available
Rising Maternal Mortality
Help Transform Maternity Care!  Please join our efforts to make quality maternity care a top national priority. Your support will help make the transformation possible. View 2010 Supporter Roster 
Updated Maternity Care Statistics Available
US Cochrane Center (USCC)/Consumers United for Evidence-based Healthcare (CUE)
New Mothers Speak Out National Report Released The latest report in Childbirth Connection's Listening to Mothers series is now available. Get an eye-opening look at the reality of life as a mother of young children in the United States, based on national surveys conducted by Harris Interactive. Learn more, get the report Read the Wall Street Journal story and listen to the podcast Download Quick Facts (PDF) Why does the national U.S. c-section rate keep going up? Current research points to an optimal cesarean section rate of 5% to 10%, but 1 pregnant woman in 3 is giving birth by major surgery in the United States. Why the surge and is this safe? A new page - and a PDF handout for journalists, policy makers, students and others - answer these questions. Read more about the rising cesarean section rate New Content!
March/April 2009 evidence column is now available.
Features: National Quality Forum endorses consensus perinatal performance measures; systematic reviews on induction of labor, environmental tobacco smoke and fetal health, and HPV infection and cervical neoplasia Get the column Popular Pages
"I didn't know I had legal rights, but I felt I could ask questions and refuse procedures."
Every woman has the right to freedom of movement during labor, unencumbered by tubes, wires, or other apparatus. She also has the right to give birth in the position of her choice.
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