CIHR Team in Maternal Infant Care

A major weakness in health research is the inability to effectively, efficiently and rapidly translate knowledge into improved quality of care, better patient outcomes and reduced health care costs. Preterm birth is a prime area for developing knowledge translation models to improve quality of care. The costs of preterm birth are estimated to exceed $1 billion annually in Canada and include NICU care, which is expensive and often prolonged. Unfortunately, little is known about how to reduce preterm births and the outcomes for preterm infants have not improved in recent years. This research program is designed to improve outcomes and reduce costs through a better understanding of how different practices and risks affect the long-term health of preterm infants, how improved methods of knowledge translation can enhance quality of care, and how the use evidence can be extended to patients for counseling and decision making. Our objective is to conduct an integrated program of research, training and knowledge translation aimed at creating innovative methods and models for improving quality of care for pregnant women, infants and their families. We will involve researchers, clinicians, administrators, professional bodies and community groups from across Canada. We will establish a unique national database that spans the entire period from pregnancy to childbirth, infancy and developmental follow-up, and use it to develop and test innovative methods and models for quality improvement. We will conduct 5 projects that will assess the therapy and non-therapy related risk factors for preterm infants, use evidence to identify best practices and indicators, develop and evaluate decision support tools to facilitate practice change, implement and evaluate an evidence-based practiceidentification and change (EPIC) system for improving care for newborn infants and their families, and develop updated prognostic tools for family counseling and decision making.