Increasing Recruitment and Retention for Centering Pregnancy Group Prenatal Visits at the Shadyside Family Health Center
Asmau Misawa, MD; Rowena Pingul-Ravano, MD
Background
Centering pregnancy is an evidence-based model of group prenatal care, associated with reduced preterm birth. In 2015, the Shadyside Family Health Center (SFHC) became the first site hosted by a Family Medicine practice. To date, six cohorts of patients have completed the program. SFHC recruited participants from the obstetrics (OB) patient panel, and included prenatal patients ≥ 20 weeks gestational age. The Centering curriculum does not include a standardized recruiting method, so the OB coordinator recruited Cohorts 1-4 via telephone and email, as well as face-to-face at initial prenatal visits. The aim of this project was to improve recruitment and retention of participants.
Methods
For Cohorts 5 and 6 this project included a continuity resident at each Centering session, provided faculty and resident education sessions, developed an Epic Smart phrase referral tool, and created a Facebook page. This project received Quality Improvement committee approval.
Results
The six Centering cohorts included a total of 22 participants. In comparison to Cohort 1 (n=6), and Cohorts 2-4 (n=3), Cohorts 5-6 (n=7-8) had an average of increase of 3-5 participants per session. For Cohorts 5 and 6, 28% and 50% of Centering participants were referred by resident providers, respectively. Of the 22 Centering participants, 100% delivered full-term.
Conclusion
In comparison to earlier cohorts, Cohorts 5-6 had a modest increase in participants. Provider referrals proved to be a useful recruitment tool in addition to OB coordinator referrals. Use of social media may prove to be a useful retention tool and merits additional study.