Some of you may know about this already; it went national in August 2008. It's worth posting here just to continue spreading the word. I have utmost respect for these kinds of initiatives and really wish that we could do this in Canada too.
Non-profit organization the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) has started a project for collecting feedback on maternity care in the United States. You can take the survey to share your experience/information and you can also access data about the caregivers in your area so that you can make informed decisions as you choose your practitioner and your care facility.
From the Birth Survey website:The Transparency in Maternity Care Project was birthed in February of 2006 by the Grassroots Advocates Committee (GAC) of the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS). We are a volunteer group dedicated to ensuring public access to quality of care information specifically related to maternity care providers and institutions. It is our intention to extend the current social trend toward transparency in health care into the virtually overlooked maternity care arena.
The Birth Survey is structured around the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) evidence-based 10 Steps to Mother-Friendly Care and other quality of care indicators. The creation of The Birth Survey has been inspired by Childbirth Connection's Listening to Mothers Survey (Harris Interactive, October 2002) and the A-CAHPS (Ambulatory Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) program and surveys.
We believe that women of childbearing age must have access to information that will help them choose maternity care providers and institutions that are most compatible with their own philosophies and needs. We hope that the Transparency in Maternity Care Project will provide information that will help women make fully informed maternity care decisions.
We also believe that maternity care practitioners and institutions must have access to feedback from their patients. We hope that doctors, midwives, and hospital administrators will find the information generated through the Transparency in Maternity Care Project useful in quality improvement efforts.
Women need accurate, objective data in order to make fully informed choices about birth settings and providers. Practitioners and hospital administrators also need data to evaluate whether they are delivering quality care. We hope this project will fill a void by providing much needed information that benefits all parties engaged in maternity care.
Take the Survey. View Survey Reports. View Intervention Rates. Spread the word. Or just learn more about the project. The Birth Survey.
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