Establishing a Group Prenatal Care Model in Northwestern's Resident OBGYN Clinic (GroPrenatalCare)

Innovations are needed to improve access to quality prenatal and postpartum care (e.g., perinatal care) for women with limited social support and women from low-income minority groups so that perinatal outcomes are optimized. Perinatal care is the optimal time to intervene for the health of women and their offspring because interactions with healthcare providers are frequent and women are receptive to counseling for the sake of a healthy pregnancy. Resident physicians in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the McGaw Medical Center at Northwestern University seek to improve the quality of perinatal care they provide to their patients by bringing women out of the exam room into a group setting to not only receive prenatal checkups, but also to engage in self-care and empowerment, build community with other women, and gain knowledge and skills in pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. This Friends of Prentice application proposes to bring a group model of care, known as CenteringPregnancy to the Prentice Ambulatory Clinic (PAC) so that resident physicians can provide perinatal care in a more meaningful way when they observe improved adherence to perinatal visits and clinical recommendations and their patients report improved social support. The long-term goal is to measure how group prenatal care improves perinatal outcomes such as cesarean delivery and preterm birth among women who receive prenatal care at the PAC.