Importance of Prenatal Care In a Supportive Environment

Steve Adubato goes one-on-one with Dr. Mark Einstein, Chief at the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at University Hospital & Chair Department of OB/GYN & Women’s Health at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, to talk about the importance of offering pregnant women health assessments, education and prenatal care, all in a supportive, group environment.

12/7/17 #2091

Excerpt:

"We are pleased to welcome Doctor Mark Einstein, who is Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University Hospital, and also Chair, Department of OB/GYN and Women's Health, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Doctor, please do not tell me that's all on the same business card. It kind of is. Yes. [laughter] By the way, it's Obstetrics and Gynecology at University? You got it Steve. Yeah. Yes. By the way, what is that field? The field is a comprehensive field of all of women's health. Women's health is not just about contraception and babies, it's about cancer care, it's about medicine that is related to some of the hormones and milieu that women go through that are different than men. It's related to menopause health, it's related to all forms of comorbidities. The number one killer of women is heart disease. People think it might be other stuff too, but it's just as common... heart disease in women as it is in men, and we have to do a lot to try to prevent these things. What you and I we're talking real quick... quickly before we got on the air, about pregnancy, women having children, there are many terrific producers around here who happen to be women, and having babies. I don't know the degree to which... I'm like, "Wow they work hard, and they're juggling all kinds of things." I don't know what they're feeling, what they're thinking, here's the question, I swear there's one here. Do we even have a clue as to what most women deal with when they're giving birth? I think women do. I don't think we do. [laughter] I think the women do. Do we try enough? I... we need to try more. There's no doubt about it. Go ahead, keep talking. We need to understand really, what women are going through, and women, especially the first pregnancy, it can get scary. There are a lot of changes. There are a lot of challenges that happen. And you know, it's the fear of the unknown. Even the fear of just the process of the whole pregnancy process, and the labor, and the delivery. I mean that... that could be a fearful process. I think with a lot of education, talking to your providers, it'll help to kind of demystify it. And this is, I think, where the community sort of comes in too, I mean one of the focuses that we have at University Hospital is we have a centering pregnancy program, where instead of having each woman talk to their provider for like eight or ten minutes..."