Inventory of Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) for Healthy Start Programs
Evidence-based practices include actions, activities, strategies, or approaches that improve the health of women, before, during, and after pregnancy in order to improve birth outcomes and give infants up to age two years a healthy start. Also included in the collection are informational materials and tools that make it easier to implement evidence-based practices. To search by title, use the main search box located at the top of this page.
The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) is a national data-driven maternal safety and quality improvement initiative based on proven implementation approaches to improving maternal safety and outcomes in the U.S. The AIM supported safety bundles are collections of evidence based protocols and best practices for improving safety in maternity care, and handling obstetric complications and emergencies in hospital and outpatient settings. AIM provides implementation and data support for each AIM supported patient safety bundle.
Topics:
Case Management/Care Coordination Other Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment
Approaches:
Improve Women's Health
Benchmarks:
Postpartum Visit
Evidence Rating:
II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.
This 244-page publication contains detailed guidelines and recommendations on the identification and management of women who are pregnant or postpartum and use alcohol or drugs or have a substance use disorder. It includes extensive information on screening and brief interventions, psychosocial interventions, detoxification and quitting programs, pharmacological treatment, breastfeeding and maternal substance use, and management of infants exposed to alcohol and other psychoactive substances. The document also features a comprehensive review of the evidence behind the recommendations.
Topics:
Alcohol/Drug Services Breastfeeding Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment
Approaches:
Benchmarks:
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
This is a comprehensive source of information on the risks of exposure to lead during pregnancy and lactation. It contains detailed information on sources of lead exposure in adults, and known risks of lead on the mother, developing fetus, and infant. Sample screening tools for assessing possible exposure, and information on management of women found to have elevated lead levels are also included.
Topics:
Breastfeeding Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment
Approaches:
Benchmarks:
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
MothertoBaby is the leading authority providing up-to-date, evidence-based information to mothers, healthcare professionals, and the general public regarding the effects of medications and other exposures on pregnancy and breastfeeding. The website contains fact sheets in English and Spanish covering the risks of over 50 pharmaceuticals (listed alphabetically), herbal products, and other common lifestyle and occupational exposures. Excellent sections on tobacco, alcohol, and mood-altering drugs are included, as well as information on the safety of vaccines during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Experts are also available to answer individual questions confidentially by telephone, email, or text.
Topics:
Alcohol/Drug Services Breastfeeding Immunization Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment Tobacco Cessation
Approaches:
Promote Quality
Benchmarks:
Initiating Breastfeeding Smoking Abstinence
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
4Ps Plus© is the first validated instrument that has been developed to screen for alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use; depression; and domestic violence, specifically in pregnant women. In addition, brief intervention strategies, grounded in motivational interviewing techniques, are integrated into the screening process. “I am concerned…” is an interactive, multisensory psychoeducational approach that takes about five minutes and is administered to all women who are found through the screening process to be using alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs.
Topics:
Alcohol/Drug Services Depression Intimate Partner Violence Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment Tobacco Cessation
Approaches:
Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Intimate Partner Violence Perinatal Depression Screening Smoking Abstinence
Evidence Rating:
II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.
The Ohio Perinatal Quality Collaborative (OPQC) is a statewide consortium of perinatal clinicians, hospitals, and policy makers and governmental entities that aims, through the use of improvement science, to reduce preterm births and improve birth outcomes across Ohio. OPQC uses monthly action period calls and face-to-face sessions with teams to review individual and aggregate data, learn from teams that have been successful at making changes and achieving improved outcomes, and apply the Model for Improvement to test specific strategies. OPQC was founded in 2007, and is seen as a national model in statewide perinatal improvement.
Topics:
Case Management/Care Coordination Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment
Approaches:
Promote Quality
Benchmarks:
Reducing Early Elective Deliveries Well Child Visits
Evidence Rating:
II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.
