Preconception Care: Making A Lifetime of Difference
- Describe at least three preconception interventions that may improve pregnancy and birth outcomes.
- Identify at least three chronic health conditions that can effect pregnancy and birth outcomes.
- Cite three reasons why women of reproductive age should have preconception screening.
Preconception interventions are known to improve adverse pregnancy outcomes such as low birth weight, prematurity and birth defects. In the United States, fifty percent of all pregnancies are unplanned. Many interventions to prevent adverse birth outcomes must happen before early pregnancy to be effective. In addition, most fetal organs and placental vessels are developing before the first prenatal visit. In 2009 Health TeamWorks (formerly the Colorado Clinical Guidelines Collaborative), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Colorado Healthy Women Healthy Babies formed a public/private partnership to develop a one page evidenced-based preconception care clinical practice guideline for Colorado providers. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the components of the Colorado preconception and interconception clinical practice guideline and educate health care professionals about implementation of evidence-based interventions that can improve the health of women and their babies across the life span.
Framework for the talk:
This presentation will describe preconception care guideline components (daily multivitamin intake, appropriate body weight, tobacco cessation, alcohol and drug use, sexually transmitted infections, psychosocial risks, immunizations, reproductive history, genetic history, environmental exposures, chronic illness and contraception) and distill the evidence and rationale for screening and intervention prior to conception. In addition, the presentation will illustrate how health care providers in various specialties can address preconception care with patients at each encounter using a life course health development framework.
Implications for practice:
The preconception and interconception clinical practice guideline strives to summarize and prioritize interventions in a manner that can serve as a foundation for preconception care. Since all women of reproductive age, from menarche to menopause, benefit from the preventive care outlined in the guideline, development and dissemination of the guideline promotes consistent and equal health care for women.
