Obstetrics in family practice: a model for residency training

Family physicians have a unique service to offer families at the time of their reproduction, and have a role to play that cannot be duplicated by an obstetrician-gynecologist or pediatrician. The process of a family integrating a new member is a natural concept to family practice and lends itself to a family-centered model of care seldom seen in medicine. Practicing obstetrics has a positive effect on a family physician's practice for without obstetrics a practice largely of episodic adult internal medicine develops. Obstetrical care provided by a family physician is a natural answer to the currently articulated public need for personalized, sensitive, family-centered, and expert childbirth care. Obstetrical training in the family practice residency needs to include a longitudinal pregnancy care experience in addition to block rotation on hospital services to teach residents skills of good obstetrical practice and to develop an attitude of family-centered health-care advocacy. A detailed program of family-centered patient education classes practical for a private group practice has been developed to extend throughout the entire course of pregnancy and includes classes after delivery.