The Family Practitioner's Role in Newborn Delivery at Ochsner

Family practice physicians have contributed significantly to the care of maternity patients nationwide, but since the 1970s the number of family practice physicians delivering babies has decreased at a steady pace. In rural areas especially, family physicians are often the sole providers of care. Without these rural doctors providing maternal care, the risk of poor maternal/infant outcome increases. In the 1990s, it was found that residents of family medicine who are taught obstetrics all or in part by other family practice doctors are more likely to provide this kind of care when they finish residency. With this information, the Residency Review Committee that oversees national residency guidelines added the requirement that in all family practice residencies at least one practitioner must provide maternity care in an ongoing basis. To meet this challenge the country's medical training institutions quickly had to find new ways to teach and provide coverage for family practitioners involved in newborn delivery. Ochsner has developed credentialling for staff family practitioners to provide this care. Staff family practitioners are involved in the prenatal care of pregnant patients and have the opportunity to supervise their residents during labor and delivery. With the assistance of the obstetrical staff the Family Practice Residents' experience has greatly increased, reaching nearly 70 deliveries in 1998 alone with projections of over 100 for 1999.