Choosing a Health Care Provider

There are many things for a pregnant woman to consider in choosing whom she would
like to provide her pregnancy care:

Accessibility of the practice in terms of location and operating hours (evening and weekend hours, etc) Hospital(s) at which that provider delivers babies, and how those hospitals match the preferences of the pregnant woman. Special needs that an individual woman may have, such as the need for a provider who speaks another language than english.  How to match her care provider choice with her insurance choice.

These considerations that are more about convenience, transportation, and ease of contact... all are certainly important.

Perhaps more important to consider is the nature of the relationship that the woman wants to have, and perhaps wants her family to have, with her pregnancy caregiver.

• A pregnant woman can choose an obstetrician, and family physician, or a nurse midwife to provide her with pregnancy care.
• Research shows that, in most pregnancies, the pregnancy outcomes (the health of the baby and mother) are the same for all three types of providers.  In higher risk pregnancies, the involvment of an obstetrician as the main provider, or as a consultant to a family physician or midwife, is generally an appropriate approach.
• Each of these types of providers will have a different approach to providing care for pregnant patients. 

Questions for a pregnant woman to consider in choosing whom to see for pregnancy care:

Are other services besides medical care important to the pregnant woman?

Family physician practices, including our own, provide onsite nutritional consultation, psychological counselling, and health education.
A family physician offers a pregnant woman the opportunity to have ongoing pediatric care from the same physician that has provided her prenatal care.  In most family medicine practices, other family members (children, the baby's father, the woman's parents) are also welcome in the practice.  The same additional support services are available to other family members. This opportunity to for a family physician to be available to a pregnant woman's family allows that doctor to understand more clearly what is important to the pregnant patient, and her family, when it comes to health care.

Does the opportunity to get complete medical care, not just pregnancy care, appeal to a pregnant woman?

Consider whether the opportunity to have a long-term medical relationship that extends beyond the pregnancy is important to the pregnant woman.  If that is the case, a family physician may be the best fit for that pregnant woman.  Family physicians can manage greater than 90% of the health concerns that a pregnant woman, or her family, may have at one office site.

Who will deliver your baby if your usual provider is not available? 

Ask how the doctor or midwife takes call.  Ask if you can meet some of the other doctors who might be called should your usual docor not be available.  In our practices, we have our pregnant patients meet the physician who will be most likely to be called in the event that the usual doctor is not available.

Visit My HealthCare - a website designed to help you make informed decisions about your medical care.