For Immediate Release

Contact: Tyla Minniear

thousman@njhcqi.org (551-427-1436)

TRENTON, New Jersey — The New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, in collaboration with HealthConnect Onethe New Jersey Doula Learning Collaborative, and a workgroup of hospitals and doulas, released the Guide for Hospital Doula Policy Creation to support New Jersey hospitals as they create their doula policies. Under a law enacted earlier this year, New Jersey hospitals have until July 1 to develop and publicly post policies that allow doulas to accompany patients before, during, and after labor and childbirth.

Linda Schwimmer, President and CEO of the Quality Institute, encourages hospitals to use the Guide as a model to create these policies.

“By creating and consistently applying supportive policies regarding doulas, hospitals can cultivate a better climate for safer and higher quality outcomes for patients,” Schwimmer said.

The Guide addresses issues such as supporting doulas’ entry into the hospitals, their access to their client within the hospital and throughout their stay, establishing a doula liaison position, among other topics. Birthing hospitals throughout New Jersey can use the Guide to increase understanding of the role and benefits of doulas and drive consistency and greater clarity of policies within hospital systems. This clarity will benefit patients seeking doula care.

The Guide was created through months of research on current issues for hospitals, doulas, and patients; focus groups, interviews, and then workgroup discussions with doulas, hospital administrators, physicians, midwives, and nurses. Hospital systems where 97 percent of the state’s babies are born participated in the process.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the work to create the Guide.

“Doula care is more critical than ever as the lives and wellbeing of Black and Brown people giving birth continue to be disproportionately at risk here in New Jersey,” said Sheila Reynertson, Senior Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “To make this effective, lifesaving care more accessible in the Garden State, the Quality Institute facilitated a thoughtful process to help create the seemingly impossible: collaborative and consistent doula policies, best practices, and guidelines grounded in the shared vision of providing excellent care for all residents welcoming a new member of their family. This important work lays the foundation for a future where doulas and hospital health care providers seamlessly work together — and where health is no longer a privilege for some, but a right for all.”

A doula is a trained professional who provides physical, emotional, and informational support to clients before, during, and after childbirth. Studies have found that doulas positively impact several birth outcomes for both the pregnant person and their baby. Doulas are not clinically trained and do not provide medical care.

The Quality Institute and its partners convened the workgroup and created the Guide after hearing from both hospitals and doulas that they needed help in understanding the various needs and concerns of patients seeking doula support. The workgroup also discussed and the Guide addresses how to create policies that are uniform across  health systems’ different hospitals,  and stresses applying policies consistently and spelling out when there may be differences because of the physical layout of the hospital.  The Guide also provides best practices on each topic and resource links.

For more information about the Guide or the Quality Institute’s Maternity Action Plan (MAP), a comprehensive four-part plan to advance birth equity and quality, contact Brianna Hanson, Program Officer, at bhanson@njhcqi.org.