Favorite Resources for Doula Research

 

On my other website, www.safebirth.org, I have put links to what I believe are some of the best articles on the web on specific topics, like cesarean, fetal monitoring, etc. These articles encourage parents to look beyond the surface of common obstetrical practices, and evaluate the true risks and benefits.

 

There are a couple of fabulous resource guides out there...  It may be worth compiling a doula specific guide, but here's some existing resource guides to check out

1. King County Breastfeeding Resource Guide www.breast-friends.org which has a ton of info about breastfeeding resources and other resources for expectant parents

2. Breastfeeding Guides for Pierce, Snohomish, and other counties: http://www.hmhbwa.org/bcw/resourceguides.html (these are more focused on breastfeeding)

3. PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support) Resource Guide: www.pepsgroup.org or http://www.pepsgroup.org/familyresources/index.htm

4. Where to Turn from the Crisis Clinic. Great list of all sorts of social services available throughout King County. Unfortunately not available online. Well worth the $30 it costs.

5. Child Profile Resource Guide (from dept. of health) http://www.childprofile.org/hpmats/King-Sno_Resources2001.pdf

6. Baby Zone Seattle: http://seattle.babyzone.com/ I just found this. It's excellent! Links to breastfeeding resources, crisis lines, daycare, pregnancy info, parenting classes, etc.

7. King County Health Department Breastfeeding resources: http://www.metrokc.gov/health/breastfeeding/resources.htm

 

Cool additional info for Washington state:

1. The schedule for recommended immunizations is available at: http://www.hmhbwa.org/iacw/schedule/immsched01-02.pdf

2. Average costs for normal vaginal birth, c-section, and normal newborn care in King County hospitals:

http://www.doh.wa.gov/EHSPHL/hospdata/UserGuides/Pregnancy/1999/1999PregnancyGuide.pdf

3. Partial list of parent ed programs at local community colleges: http://transitiontoparenthood.com/ttp/birthed/resources.htm

4. Washington's Center for Health Statistics. http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehsphl/chs/chs-data/birth/bir_vd.htm

Includes: top 100 baby names in WA,  table D1 shows percentage of preterm births, table A1 percentage of WA moms who are teens or unwed, table a9 ages of birthing moms; table c-6 is a good one: shows WA rates for forceps, vacuum, c-section, VBAC, etc.

5. To see cesearean and VBAC rates for each of the local hospitals: check out a handy website off of www.healthgrades.com . First, go to http://www.healthgrades.com/public/index.cfm?fuseaction=mod&modtype=HRC&modact=Search_Choose_CityHosp Then choose Washington and obstetrics. Then choose Seattle area, and agree to user agreement. You'll see a chart with some data. To see better data, click on the table heading that says More Data 2002 analysis.

6. Info about WIC: who's eligible, how to apply, how it works. http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/

6. Some info about DSHS programs and who's eligible: https://wws2.wa.gov/dshs/onlinecso/eligibility.asp  The full manual on eligibility is at http://www1.dshs.wa.gov/esa/eazmanual/default.htm  I just found these sites, so haven't worked with them enough to know how useful they are. Info on First Steps program which provides medical and social services to pregnant women: https://wws2.wa.gov/dshs/onlinecso/First_Steps.asp 

 

Some of my favorite links for research info:

1. To search medical journal abstracts: www.pubmed.com

2. Position statements from the Americal Academy of Pediatrics: https://www.aap.org/policy/pprgtoc.cfm#B

3. Cochrane library: reviews a broad array of medical journals, and publishes reviews of available data to enable caregivers to provide evidence based care. Includes reviewers conclusions about recommended care. Very cool!!  http://www.update-software.com/ccweb/cochrane/revabstr/g010index.htm

4. ACOG News Releases. http://www.acog.org/from_home/newsrel.cfm  UNfortunately, they don't have their position papers on line.

5. Links to position statements, fact sheets, and state facts from American College of Nurse-Midwives. http://www.midwife.org/prof/

 

A couple random topic-related sites.

1. ICAN's white papers on c-section: http://www.ican-online.org/resources/wp_index.htm

2. Fact sheets on infertility issues: http://www.asrm.org/Patients/FactSheets/fact.html

3. Lamaze’s list of must-read articles from 2002 Journals: www.lamaze.org/childbirth/MustRead.asp