Homicide, suicide, and overdose are leading causes of maternal death, and many happen after the postpartum visit. This project proposes ways prenatal and pediatric care can work together to prevent them.
At a glance
Question
How can prenatal and pediatric care work together to prevent traumatic maternal deaths and family violence?
Partners
Funder
This project was not externally funded.
Timeline
2020-2025
Why it matters
Homicide, suicide, and overdose are leading causes of maternal death, and they are linked to risks that can be identified in care: intimate partner violence, substance use, and depression. Screening for these is recommended but not routine; in one survey, only 14% of OB/GYNs reported screening for intimate partner violence during pregnancy. And many traumatic maternal deaths happen after the six-week postpartum visit, when mothers may no longer be seen.
What we’re doing
We reviewed screening practices for the leading risk factors for traumatic maternal death (intimate partner violence, substance use, depression, and seat belt use) and proposed three changes to care.
What we learned
Recommended screening tools exist but are not used routinely in prenatal care
About 30% of women miss their postpartum visit, while about 95% of infants attend early pediatric visits
Only about 30% of traumatic maternal deaths happen within 42 days of the end of pregnancy.
Proposals for care
Share mother-baby health information, so risks identified in prenatal care reach the infant's pediatric provider
Begin pediatric care during pregnancy, with a prenatal visit after about 25 weeks
Co-locate mother-baby care, offering postpartum services and screening in the pediatric well-child clinic
Papers from this project
Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 2021
Preventing Traumatic Causes of Maternal Death
Three changes to prenatal and pediatric care to better identify mothers at risk of homicide, suicide, and overdose.
Journal of Pediatrics, 2020
Bridging Prenatal and Pediatric Care to Prevent Family Violence
How linking prenatal and pediatric care could help identify and prevent family violence.
This project was not externally funded.
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