Grassroots Network: Survey for Patients/Consumers on Overtreatment

Survey for Patients/Consumers on Overtreatment

Dear Friends,

Hope you all are enjoying the start of summer!

First of all, we at CfM apologize that our Grassroots News Messages have been so sparse lately. Much has been going on in all of our lives, and unfortunately our news messages have taken a back seat. In the coming months, we promise to refocus our energy and use this network to spread the news about maternity care. If you have anything that you are interested in sharing, we encourage you to contact us at info@cfmidwifery.org. Additionally, if you would be interested in helping regularly with the Grassroots Network messages, we’d love to hear from you.

Below is information regarding a survey from TreatmentTrap.org and Consumer Union's Safe Patient Project dealing with overtreatment. While the site doesn't specifically mention childbirth, overtreatment, unnecessary treatment and other errors are frequent in maternal health care in the U.S. We encourage you to share your experiences with these incidents, especially as they relate to childbirth. The survey reflects the beginning of attention to overtreatment in general, and an awareness of related issues such as a lack of informed consent and being given misleading medical information. This is a chance for all of us to draw the attention of the sponsoring organizations to the severe and costly problem of unnecessary and overtreatment in maternity care in particular. Through raising these issues, we can actively support a woman's right to the childbirth she sees fit, and her right to be treated honestly and respectfully by her care providers, both of which are essential for improving the state of maternal health care in the US.

Please read the information below and participate in the Survey!

Sincerely,
Stephanie Hucker and Susan Hodges of Citizens for Midwifery

New Survey Launched to Query Patients/Consumers on Overtreatment

A new survey is being launched to enable patients to share their experience of overtreatment, an emerging quality and patient safety issue in health care today.

The survey is a partnership between TreatmentTrap.

org and Consumer Union's Safe Patient Project. While not a scientific survey, it aims to elicit patient experiences of overtreatment to raise public awareness. Patient experiences of overtreatment can be useful to health care leaders and policy makers as they establish priorities to reduce overuse.

The survey can be found by going to: www.treatmenttrap.org. Click on "Share Your Story" and you will be directed to the CU Safe Patient Project survey.

The "Share Your Story" survey asks two questions: "Have you had medical care you thought was unnecessary?" and "Have you declined medical care you thought was unnecessary and obtained a medically appropriate alternative?"

The survey prompts respondents to share experiences of overuse including those identified as overused by the National Quality Forum's National Priorities Partnership. These procedures include: spine surgery, heart bypass surgery, hysterectomy and prostatectomy.

For further information, contact Rosemary Gibson at rosemarygibson100@gmail.com