Safety of Rural Maternity Services

A Secondary Analysis of Canadian Rural Maternal Newborn Outcomes (September 2009 – Spring 2013)

Research Team

  • Principal Investigators: Stefan Grzybowski and Jude Kornelsen
  • Co-Investigators: John Fahey, Sharon Zhang,
  • Collaborators: Nancy Aelicks, Rebecca Attenborough, Cathe Johnson, Sheryll Dale, Romy McMaster
  • Support Team: Kathrin Stoll, Ashley Love, Daniel Hawkins, Leslie Carty

Funding Agencies

Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Project Summary

The goal of the research is to expand on the work that is being done in British Columbia (see Maternal and Newborn Outcomes by Service Delivery Level study) to Alberta and Nova Scotia, using data from their respective perinatal databases.  The objectives of the study are to:

  1. Compare selected population-based maternal and newborn outcomes by residence stratified across service levels in each of the three provinces using a parallel research strategy.
  2. Amalgamate results from the three provinces into a structured composite analysis; and
  3. Link results to hospital service levels.

This project builds directly on our pilot work and provincial project and expands the analytic solutions we have developed in British Columbia to other provincial jurisdictions in Canada.

Upcoming Activities 

Provincial analysis is almost complete and then the three provinces will be ready to start amalgamating the data. We expect to complete analysis by summer 2012.