For those of you who haven't heard of The Birth Survey, listen up. If you have heard of it, but haven't filled yours out, do it now! If you have filled it out, encourage your friends and family to do it too. I had heard about it, but learned so much more from Elan McAllister, President of Choices in Childbirth, who spoke at the Controversies in Childbirth Conference. This is the first item I wanted to write about from the conference because it is of the utmost importance.
All women are asked to participate who have given birth within the last three years. The Survey is gathering data on providers, doctors, midwives, hospitals, etc. When women learn they are pregnant, they will be able to go to The Birth Survey to find information about different doctors or midwives in their area. Obviously, the more women that participate, the better the data, the more information women are able to get to make informed choices about their medical care.
So far, over a third of participants have given birth with a Licensed Midwife or Certified Professional Midwife and gave birth out of the hospital. My reasoning for this is that these are the women who are excited to report about their wonderful and empowering birth experiences. This is a survey for all women and all types of births.
Here's how it works:
Share:
Take the survey. Simple.
Connect:
View the survey reports. This will include consumer feedback on the hospitals, doctors, midwives, and birth centers in your area.
Learn:
View the hospital intervention rates. This is so empowering to have this information in order to make informed decisions about where and with whom to birth your baby.
What I love about this is that it is real. No one can tamper with the results. It will speak for itself, based on actual births. It gives women a voice, who perhaps had a less-than-perfect birth, to help other women avoid the same birth attendants, etc. That is why I say that all women should participate in the survey.
The project was just started Fall 2008 by CIMS (Coalition for Improving Maternity Services) and the first results are due out the beginning of April. It will be regularly updated and will include birth surveys filled out for 5 years, so the data stays current.
So what are you waiting for? Go do the survey! Make a difference.
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