Member-only story
What is an Evidence-Based Practice and Why should you care?
I first heard the phrase “evidence-based” about fifteen years ago, when I was working as a doula and parent educator in Austin, TX. One of the OBGyns wore a button with the phrase, “I practice evidence-based medicine.” I asked him what that meant and he replied, “I practice medicine based on the most current scientific information available.” I naively asked, “Don’t all doctors?” “No, they don’t,” he responded and added his life mission was to change that.
This doctor lectured, wrote, and talked to anyone who’d listen and passionately advocated for change. Over the next few years, as I provided prenatal and/or postpartum support to over 1000 women (as a doula, childbirth, and parent educator), it became observable that we have a problem in the US and evidence-based medicine is not being implemented. I listened to mothers grieve as they shared their birth stories. I also witnessed poor birth outcomes, which were preventable.
The evidence to support my and the doctor’s claims are available. The US currently has one of the highest rates of maternal deaths in the world and our rates are rising! We are doing horribly in the area of infant mortality too. In the CDC’s own report; the US ranked 26th out of 29 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for infant mortality.
