Respectful Maternity Care: Dissemination and Implementation of Perinatal Safety Culture to Improve Equitable Maternal Healthcare Delivery and Outcomes

Respectful Maternity Care: Dissemination and Implementation of Perinatal Safety Culture to Improve Equitable Maternal Healthcare Delivery and Outcomes: Although pregnancy care costs much more in the US than in most other developed countries, maternal morbidity and mortality are unacceptably high. Significant health disparities exist particularly between White vs. Non-Hispanic Black women. While many factors contribute to poor outcomes and disparities, there is increasing attention to the role that respectful maternity care (RMC) may play in shaping these outcomes. In 2020, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a department-wide effort to reduce disparities in maternal health and safety outcomes. Since 2015, AHRQ has partnered with HRSA’s Maternal Child Health Bureau and the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) to integrate the Safety Program in Perinatal Care (SPPC) with the existing AIM maternal safety bundle “4 R framework” (Readiness, Recognition, Response, Reporting). Recently, this group is focused on updating the existing bundle to include a 5th R: respectful maternity care (RMC). The goal of this review is to address the decisional dilemma around the uncertainty in identifying RMC and effective strategies to implement RMC. Importantly, this review will help define, identify, and evalua