Supporting Family Physician Maternity Care Providers.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare access
• Family medicine
• Maternal health

Background:

• Maternity care access in the US faces a crisis, with a projected shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists (OB/GYNs).
• Family physicians are increasingly vital in providing maternity care, particularly in underserved regions.
• The practice of family medicine maternity care has declined due to challenges in interdisciplinary collaboration, privileging, competency maintenance, and burnout.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize essential strategies for supporting family physician maternity care providers.
• To provide guidance for training and retaining rural family physician maternity care providers.
• To highlight the role of family physicians in addressing maternity care access for underserved populations.

Main Methods:

• Workshops were conducted with family medicine educators in 2016 and 2017.
• Recommendations for essential strategies were developed based on workshop discussions.
• The article synthesizes these strategies and presents innovative ideas.

Main Results:

• Identified key challenges impacting family medicine maternity care.
• Developed a set of recommended strategies to support providers.
• Highlighted the critical role of family physicians in underserved maternity care.

Conclusions:

• Family physicians are essential for addressing the maternity care crisis.
• Implementing supportive strategies is crucial for training and retaining these providers.
• Innovative approaches are needed to ensure continued maternity care access for all populations.