Community for Antepartum Patients (CAP): Establishing an Inpatient Model for Group Prenatal Care at Duke (2023-2024)

Preterm birth, or delivery before 37 weeks gestational age, is a major cause of illness and death in newborn babies’ first month. In the outpatient setting, group prenatal care models such as CenteringPregnancy© have shown improved pregnancy outcomes such as decreased racial disparities in preterm births.

This multiyear project adapted the CenteringPregnancy group model – traditionally used as an outpatient service – to an inpatient antepartum service by expanding a pilot study performed in 2019-2020. In 2023-2024, team members continued this work by developing and implementing a sustainable inpatient antepartum intervention through virtual antenatal patient sessions (“CAP sessions”) that benefits pregnant women and their babies by increasing length of pregnancy and breastfeeding rates. 

The team also initiated a quality improvement project to identify areas in which the CAP program can better meet the needs of antepartum patients and foster meaningful relationships.

Timing

Summer 2023 – Summer 2024

Team Outputs

Community for Antepartum Patients (Poster presented at Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, April 17, 2024)

Sustainable inpatient antepartum group model

Quantitative data on obstetric knowledge for undergraduates

Undergraduate curriculum on obstetrics

See related teams, Community for Antepartum Patients (CAP): Establishing an Inpatient Model for Group Prenatal Care at Duke (2024-2025) and Community for Antepartum Patients (CAP): Establishing an Inpatient Model for Group Prenatal Care at Duke (2022-2023).

Image: Video still from CenteringPregnancy® at Duke Family Medicine Center, by Duke Family Medicine and Community Health