Rural Maternity Service Closures: Implications for Referral Hospitals
August 2005 - March 2007

A scenic view of Prince Rupert while on fieldwork

Research Team

Principal Investigators: Jude Kornelsen and Shiraz Moola

Co-Investigators:  Stefan Grzybowski, Sheryll Dale, Lana Sullivan, Cynthia Lin Hsieh
Support Team:  Cynthia Lin Hsieh

Funding Agency

British Columbia Medical Services Foundation, Vancouver Foundation

Communities

Terrace, Prince Rupert, Courtenay/Comox, Trail, Nelson

Project Summary

The goal of this research is to investigate the experience of referral hospitals in caring for an expanded maternity patient population due to increasing outflow of parturient women from satellite communities.  Specific objectives include an investigation of:

1. the impact of the increased outflow of maternity patients from satellite communities on the health human resources of referral communities;
2. the mechanisms used by referral community hospitals to accommodate this increase; and
3. administrators’ and practitioners’ perceptions of the quality of maternity care for women from remote communities.

This mixed-methods project involved in-depth interviews with care providers and administrators about their perceptions of maternity services in their communities, a comprehensive chart review of all women who were induced over the last 2 years at the referral centres we visited, and a large data request to the British Columbia Reproductive Care Program for maternal/newborn outcomes of 14 referral hospitals over the last 4 years.

Project Updates

All data collection for this project has been completed, and the research team is in the midst of data analysis.  A final report has also been submitted to the funding agency.

Upcoming Activities

Once data analysis has been completed, the research team hopes to disseminate the results through peer-reviewed publications and national conferences.  To date, the principal investigators have 1 publication in the JOGC pending (in press) on the need to develop a protocol on geographic inductions.  In addition, Dr. Moola's presentation abstracts have been accepted at the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada Annual Meeting (June 21-26, 2007).