Description     Mission Statement     History

Description:  This website is a March of Dimes sponsored project administered by Swedish Medical Center aimed at assessing the current practice and improving the nature and scope of Washington State primary care providers (PCPs) education in four key areas: 

1) discussion of family history of birth defects/genetic disorders;
2) prenatal testing for birth defects/genetic disorders; 
3) benefits of folic acid in preventing birth defects; and 
4) effects of alcohol and smoking on babies.                      

Mission Statement:  To create a "one-stop" website for health care professionals to access information regarding our project, the importance of folic acid education, links to other helpful websites, and continuing medical education (CME).            

History: 1993-1996 Washington State PRAMS (Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System) data shows that issues discussed between provider and patient vary by women’s age, economic status, and education.

We surveyed local Puget Sound clinics (patients, providers, and chart reviews) to determine the following:
1)  What do physicians think they tell patients?
2)  What do patients remember they were told?
3)  Is patient education documented in charts?
4)  What patient demographics are associated with patient recall?

We found that about 2/3 of our sample of patients do not recall a discussion of folic acid use when they are not pregnant. About 80% of our sample of providers do not discuss folic acid with their non pregnant patients. Furthermore, chart documentation of patient education is very non-uniform and difficult to identify.

Up to 70% of NTDs (spina bifida and anencephaly) may be prevented by folic acid supplementation. The neural tube develops very early in pregnancy, and closes around the 28th day after conception – before most women know that they're pregnant. For supplementation to work, women must start taking folic acid prior to conception, and continue through the first 3 months of pregnancy. Because half of all pregnancies are unplanned, and half of all unplanned pregnancies occur to women using birth control, it's important to recommend folic acid to ALL women capable of becoming pregnant, even those not planning a pregnancy in the near future.

Click on this Research Results link to learn more about our study.                                                                         

Last Update: December 2002 AJH