Why moms-to-be should consider CenteringPregnancy

Sunlight spills through the large glass windows into a room filled with laughter.  Off to one side, a young woman with long braids and a round pregnant belly dishes a second helping of fresh fruit into her bowl and then joins the circle of other moms-to-be who are exchanging smiles and head nods as they hear their own experiences echoed in the chatter of the group. This may not sound like your typical doctor’s appointment, but at UC Medical Center’s Center for Women’s Health, this is just an ordinary prenatal checkup for women enrolled in the CenteringPregnancy program.CenteringPregnancy is a healthcare delivery model where patients are seen in groups rather than individually.  The positive impact of this model of care is measurable and proven. According to the Centering Healthcare Institute, the organization that developed the Centering model,

“CenteringPregnancy decreases the rate of preterm and low-weight babies, increases breastfeeding rates and leads to better pregnancy spacing. CenteringPregnancy has been shown to nearly eliminate racial disparities in preterm birth. Black women, who are at higher risk for preterm birth in the US, experience a lower risk of preterm birth when enrolled in CenteringPregnancy than in traditional care.”

Three key components set CenteringPregnancy apart from traditional care: empowerment, education and community.

• At each of their 10 prenatal care sessions, women are empowered by learning to collect and record their own blood pressure, temperature, pulse and weight, which they report to the obstetrician, midwife or nurse practitioner they see one-on-one.
• Women participate in interactive education on a variety of topics important in pregnancy, including nutrition, breastfeeding, choices in childbirth, infant safety and emotional health.
• And they build community with one another and their healthcare providers.

As the sessions unfold, patients quickly realize that one person’s question is another person’s question.  And more questions get answered, simply because there is more time. CenteringPregnancy patients enjoy a tenfold increase in time spent with their healthcare providers compared to patients in traditional care.  Spending more time with providers and with each other fosters the building of meaningful relationships, decreasing stress and increasing patient satisfaction.Because CenteringPregnancy offers significant benefits to expectant moms, we want to spread the word, and there is no better time to do this than in November, which is National Prematurity Awareness Month. At UC, we hope to increase the number of women enjoying the benefits of empowerment, education, community and better birth outcomes that group prenatal care provides.Cincinnati native Liza Barnes is a nurse clinician at UC Medical Center’s Center for Women’s Health, where she facilitates Centering groups and coordinates the Childbirth Education program.