Maternal-child health fellowship: maintaining the rigor of family medicine obstetrics.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The United States has a growing shortage of maternity care providers. Family medicine maternity care fellowships can address this growing problem by training family physicians to manage high-risk pregnancies and perform cesarean deliveries. This paper describes the impact of one such program-the Maternal Child Health (MCH) Fellowship through the Department of Family Medicine at Brown University and the careers of its graduates over 20 years (1991--2011).

METHODS

Fellowship graduates were mailed a survey regarding their training, current practice and teaching roles, and career satisfaction. Seventeen of 23 fellows (74%) responded to the survey.

RESULTS

The majority of our fellowship graduates provide maternity care. Half of our respondents are primary surgeons in cesarean sections, and the majority of these work in community hospitals. Nearly all of our graduates maintain academic appointments and teach actively in their respective departments of family medicine.

CONCLUSIONS

Our maternal child health fellowship provides family physicians with the opportunity to develop advanced skills needed to provide maternity care for underserved communities and teaching skills to train the next generation of maternal child health care providers.