Finding Success with Collaborative Care in Maternal Health

The Partum Health team recently had the opportunity to bring together a community of women’s and family health care providers to discuss how to build collaborative care models that provide each family with the whole-person care they deserve. But here’s the truth: the idea of interdisciplinary care is still pretty new in the U.S., and there’s work to be done to align the clinical and caregiver communities that drive positive outcomes for women and families. Here are three takeaways from our conversation that are good for providers and patients to remember.

1. Focus on the patient

When there are multiple cooks in the kitchen, it can sometimes be hard to know who to listen to. In these moments, it’s important to focus on the patient. For all care providers, it’s important to give your patients as much information as possible so that they can feel empowered in their decision making. At that point, it is your job to help the patient voice their concerns and preferences (vs. your own) and try as best you can to let them do the talking.
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If you’re a patient: Discuss your birth preferences with your partner and provider team prior to delivery and practice expressing your preferences in different scenarios. If you’re struggling to communicate your preferences, consider a conversation with an behavioral health specialist who can help you identify mechanisms to better communicate your needs.

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2. Early communication is crucial

Let’s be honest: we’ve all heard stories of tension between doulas, OBs and midwives in the delivery room. But we’ve also heard that establishing open communication can make a huge difference, especially when that’s done BEFORE labor. All of our participants encouraged doulas to go on at least one prenatal OB/Midwife visit with the expectant mother to meet and talk through the patient’s birth preferences together. That way, you can talk through any situations that might come up and how you’d ideally handle them.
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This same philosophy goes towards any coordinated or collaborative care providers. Start a conversation early and (as seen above) focus on the patient’s expressed needs. 

If you’re a patient: If you’re working with a birth doula, consider inviting your birth doula to one of your prenatal visits with your OB or Midwife in order to introduce them. 

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3. Community is key

This work isn’t easy. Between navigating payment models, personalities, and the persistently unexpected, life as a care worker takes as much patience as it does passion. Building a community can make all the difference in the world. One of our biggest takeaways from our session is that no one care provider can do it alone. It’s important to have a network of complementary practitioners who share your values and who you can trust, especially  when you have a patient or client who needs greater depth of care in any one area.  Having a network of other care providers to share learnings & tips with can benefit your practice and simply having others you can talk to about your experiences is key to preventing burnout.

Something to remember: a hallmark of burnout among healthcare workers is feeling numb, cynical and-in turn-less willing to be collaborative. But collaboration can also be a preventative measure to keep from burning out. In this case, prevention is key-and that key is community.

If you’re a patient: Consider the different providers you may want to have as a part of your support team, whether it’s a birth or postpartum doula, mental health specialist, physical therapist or lactation consultant.

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