Book Review: Your Medical Mind

I recently read the book "Your Medical Mind," by Groopman and Hartzband. The book is an illuminating look at how people approach medical decision making. The physician-authors identified three major spectra along which people arrive at their final decisions: Minimalist-Maximalist. Believer-Doubter. Naturalism-Technology.

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Joyce Dykema
What if my birth plan is flexible?

A common question that I am asked, and a situation I frequently encounter in the birth room, is what does a doula do when plans change? My tongue-in-cheek, rhetorical response would be, when do plans NOT change? However, the heart of the question is truly this: If I change my mind during my birth, what will my doula do if I'm not having a natural birth anymore?

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Joyce Dykema
2015-2016 Nebraska Hospital Cesarean Rates

Research suggests the largest risk factor for a woman to give birth by Cesarean is not any health or demographic characteristic; it is the hospital where she goes for care. I was able to calculate hospital-level Cesarean rates for every hospital in the state of Nebraska that provides maternity care, and have provided them for you here.

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