About

About The Lab

The multidisciplinary Supportive Birth Collaborative (SBC) team is made up of obstetricians, anesthesiologists, nurses, doulas, students, social workers, administrators and researchers who are all working together to improve pregnancy and postpartum care at BIDMC. We work closely with community doula programs and family partners to help meet the needs of our patients.



 

"Who We Are" text over a group of hands stacked together.

Ongoing Projects

As part of the SBC’s mission to improve pregnancy and postpartum care, we focus on three main areas to streamline work and increase our impact. 

  • Education: We develop, implement, and test educational materials, programs and co-education curricula for doulas and physicians, nurses, residents, medical students and other clinicians at BIDMC. 

  • Policy: We routinely revisit existing BIDMC policies and create new ones to facilitate doula support for all patients. 

  • Research: We survey and evaluate the work of the SBC to better meet the needs of our patient population. 

Infographic titled "Building Bridges to Better Birth Experiences" with four sections: Activate, Innovate, Evaluate.

Some highlights include: 

  • Successfully changing hospital policy to recognize doulas as members of the care team instead of as a support person, increasing the total number of support people allowed in labor rooms. 

  • Standardizing and implementing doula representation in patients’ electronic medical records and hospital room signage. 

  • Incorporating doulas into annual clinician simulation sessions to encourage more clinician-doula co-education and collaboration. 

  • Hosting educational sessions for physicians, residents, and nurses on the importance and availability of doula support. 

  • Conducting surveys for clinicians and doulas aimed at improving birthing experiences for patients. 

We plan to build on our successful model by expanding our cross-cadre educational events, and conducting community-engaged research evaluating the effects of our efforts. We are also currently working with two other hospitals in Massachusetts to introduce the SBC to their institution.