Rachel Hardeman, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Policy & Management at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health. She focuses on conversations around racism in public health, and is contributing to a new body of knowledge that will enrich our understanding of how racism plays out in healthcare and impacts […]
Category: Maternal health
Resource: Toolkit for Improving Perinatal Safety
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed the Safety Program for Perinatal Care (SPPC) toolkit in order to improve the patient safety culture of labor and delivery units, and to decrease maternal and neonatal adverse events resulting from poor communication and system failures. The SPPC is organized around three program pillars, which include teamwork […]
Resource: Title V Integration Toolkit
Various states and programs have successfully used Title V data to adapt their approaches to improving the outcomes of children and families. In order to spotlight this progress and provide examples for other states and programs, the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP), in collaboration with AEM corporation, created the Title V Integration […]
Resource: Opioid Prescribing
Despite recent declines, opioid prescribing is still high and inconsistent across the US. The CDC created this website covering statistics of the problem, what can be done, and resources for sharing. You can also download the Vitalsigns infographic here.
Resource: Zika Virus: Protecting Pregnant Women & Babies
Zika virus infection (Zika) during pregnancy can cause damage to the brain, microcephaly, and congenital Zika syndrome, a pattern of conditions in the baby that includes brain abnormalities, eye defects, hearing loss, and limb defects. In 2016, 44 states reported cases of pregnant women with evidence of Zika. The April issue of VitalSigns from […]
Resource: eModules from AIM (Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health)
The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) Program was founded as a solution to help improve maternal outcomes across the US. AIM is a national data-driven quality improvement initiative based on proven approaches to improving maternal safety. The AIM eModules have been designed to be interactive and collaborative. There’s an introduction to the eModules, […]
Resource: AMCHP’s Life Course Metrics Project
As MCH programs develop new programming guided by a life course framework, measures are needed to determine the success of their approaches. In response to this emerging issue, AMCHP (the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs) launched a project designed to identify and promote a standardized set of indicators that can be applied to measure progress […]
Resource: Recommendations for Preventive Services for Women–Abridged Report
The Women’s Preventive Services Initiative (WPSI), a collaborative effort between health professional societies and consumer organizations that are experts in women’s health, recently released the 34-page Abridged Report, Recommendations for Preventive Services for Women. Presented by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), it was submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, […]
Resource: Minnesota Department of Health’s MCH Section
The Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) MCH Section provides statewide leadership and public health information essential for promoting, improving or maintaining the health and well-being of women, children and families throughout Minnesota. The overall role of the MCH Section within Minnesota’s health care delivery environment is: to assess the health needs of mothers, children, and their […]
Report: Acting on the Call–Ending Preventable Child & Maternal Deaths
Together with country partners, international organizations and non-governmental organizations from around the globe, USAID is working to end preventable child and maternal deaths within our generation, in support of the global movement Every Woman Every Child. USAID’s Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths report details the U.S. Government’s commitment to this […]
Guest Post: Maternal Mental Health–Why We Need to Pay Attention
By Katherine Allen, University of Minnesota Extension’s Children, Youth & Family Consortium (CYFC) Maternal mental health during pregnancy, childbirth, and infancy is an important predictor of child development, yet it is massively understudied, underreported, and undertreated. Across the world, mental illness associated with pregnancy and childbirth is a primary complication for women. Depression is the most […]