Can We Get Along with Obstetricians?

The rising rate in maternal mortality, especially in black mothers in the United States calls for us the medical community to try something different. We are a part of the high-income countries and should have similar or even better maternal mortality rates as other countries within our cohort. Unfortunately, that is not the case! A solution to this problem is for us to continue to advocate for a more patient-centered obstetrical model. This model should include collaboration between Doulas and Obstetricians. Obstetricians are trained to save the mother and child, and they have been programmed to think and act that way possibly even in low-risk pregnancies. However, we know not all pregnancies end with a complication; many pregnancies do well. As Doulas, can we help limit interventions without inciting an unintended conflict? This session will provide Doulas with some tools on how to collaborate with Obstetricians and to advocate for pregnant woman using negotiation skills. As medicine shifts to value-based care, there is room for Doulas to step in and become an important advocate for the laboring woman. It is time that we the medical community try something different in other to decrease the raising maternal mortality.