Rural women's experiences of maternity care

This document expresses the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official policy of Status of Women Canada or the Government of Canada. [...] Specialists in the field anonymously review each paper and provide comments on: • The accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the information presented; • The extent to which the methodology used and the data collected support the analysis and recommendations; • The original contribution the report would make to existing work on this subject, and its usefulness to equality-seeking organizations, [...] In addition, recent research challenges the long-held assumption that pregnancy outcomes are related, in part, to the volume of deliveries of the care providers, ameliorating concerns over the ability of rural practitioners to maintain competency of skills and abilities. [...] Findings Results of interviews and focus groups with care providers, administrators and local leaders revealed their awareness of the difficulty practitioners have in maintaining their skills and abilities in light of the low volume of local deliveries in most small communities and the implications of this on sustainability. [...] Given the potential for the language of risk to be used to influence a preferred course of care due to the nature of the presentation of information, some authors have argued it poses challenges to the process of informed consent (Saxell 2000).