Prescribing change, expecting more
“The data gap around pregnant women and medication is a huge problem,” says Dr. Christina Chambers, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. “Lack of sufficient data leads to treatment decisions with no evidence base, and in some cases to avoidance of needed medication or to under-treatment. This can lead to complications because there is fear on…
Read more > Long-term monitoring studies could be answer to pregnancy & medication data gaps
Electronic healthcare databases could help make life easier for healthcare professionals worried about whether or not to prescribe drugs to pregnant women. Academics from several European countries published research in early 2014 that shows there is already a wealth of information available to doctors on drug use in pregnancy. When combined, these databases have the potential to be a valuable…
No doubt the challenges to making appropriate care and information available to women facing illness and pregnancy are many. There are huge information gaps; the information we have is fractured and often hard to interpret; research with pregnant women is scientifically and ethically complex; and law and policy raise daunting barriers to conducting needed studies. Yet in my work on…
When it comes to pregnancy taboos, some organizations are tackling them head-on. Motherisk, a Canadian program that counsels women on medication use during pregnancy, is one such place. It offers mothers-to-be, and breastfeeding women, advice and resources on subjects that vary from life-threatening diseases to minor ailments. But what Motherisk does particularly well is acknowledge that the medical profession doesn’t…
Stefan Larsson, a doctor and BCG Fellow, makes the case for increased collaboration between doctors for improved quality of healthcare. His research has shown that when doctors agree on standards of healthcare, and measure their services against them, the overall standard of care rises. In 2013, he led research into measuring these standards across several countries and in four diseases.…
There’s no question that healthcare professionals and mothers-to-be have many questions when it comes to taking medicines during pregnancy. So who’s breaking new ground in the search for answers to these questions? The Obstetric-Fetal Pharmacology Research Units Network is one organization. It’s a network of sites across four US universities that investigate the effects of drugs in pregnant and breastfeeding…
Read more > Digging deeper: how the OPRU is uncovering pregnancy taboos
Dr. Anne Drapkin Lyerly, an obstetrician/gynecologist, researcher, bioethicist and author, is one of the founders of the Second Wave Initiative. Founded in 2009, the Second Wave Initiative aims to offer scientifically responsible solutions to pregnant women in need of medical treatment. We spoke to her to hear more about what she’s doing. Why did you decide to found the Second…
