All proceeds from the sales of the Maternity Care Calendar go to support research and educational activities
in the UBC Dept. of Family Practice.
The Maternity Care Calendar
The BC Women's Maternity Care Calendar and Guidelines Checklist
have been developed to better support clinicians providing prenatal care,
and as a foundation for prenatal education. Both are
endorsed by
The College of Family
Physicians of Canada.
Physicians of Canada.
When set to a patient's dates, the face of the maternity calendar provides an "at-a-glance",
individualized template outlining the timing of important interventions and key
issues to be addressed during the pregnancy. Being photocopiable, dates can be set on the calendar
and serve as a guide for the patient. A second photocopy can also be placed with the patient's chart to
serve as a prompt for testing during the patient's pregnancy and avoid the need for
repetitive date checking on the rotational calendar with each prenatal visit.
Important facts can be highlighted on the calendar while unnecessary tests can be crossed off.
Altogether, patients can plan important pregnancy milestones with their caregivers.
Previous studies have shown that the traditional rotational calendar or pregnancy wheel used in doctors'
offices typically have up to a 5-day error in calculated delivery dates. The Maternity Care Calendar on the other hand is
engineered to make sure that it can accurately measuring the 280-day gestational period to
within +/-1 day in non-leap years.
Another important innovation of the Maternity Care Calendar is the presentation of likelihood
of delivery in the event a woman has spontaneous onset of labour. The chance of delivery at various
intervals around the dates of confinement are presented, de-emphasizing the relatively
unimportant statistic of the mean due date.
The Guidelines Checklist
On the reverse side of the calendar and its wheel is a checklist of evidence-based maternity care guidelines.
The guidelines are derived primarily from an extensive review of the Canadian Task Force on
Preventive Health Care and the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force Reports, as well as MEDLINE
searches on a number of topics. Clinical interventions, which received an A or B grade by either
Task Force, are listed in bold type as recommendations. Those interventions that received a C grade,
or are recommended by organizations not necessarily using the same rigorous criteria for reviewing
the evidence, are listed in plain type for consideration.
Recommended interventions are displayed
along a timeline under 3 headings: Clinical Maneuvers, Investigations and Issues for Discussion.
Interventions that should be considered preconception are shown in green. This one-page checklist
can also be photocopied and incorporated in the patients chart to provide prompts for best care.
Twelve practising physicians, 12 Family Practice Residents and 10 pregnant women pilot-tested
and evaluated the Maternity Care Calendar and Guidelines Checklist. Their responses were favourable.
Further information about both the Maternity Care Calendar and Maternity Care Guidelines checklist can be found in the April 1999 edition of Family Matter's or the article published in the March 1999 edition of Canadian Family Physician. The Maternity Care Calendar and Guidelines Checklist from the March 1999 edition of Canadian Family Physician has just been added.
We hope that the providers of maternity care and their patients will find this tool helpful. We would be very pleased to receive your feedback.
Further information about both the Maternity Care Calendar and Maternity Care Guidelines checklist can be found in the April 1999 edition of Family Matter's or the article published in the March 1999 edition of Canadian Family Physician. The Maternity Care Calendar and Guidelines Checklist from the March 1999 edition of Canadian Family Physician has just been added.
We hope that the providers of maternity care and their patients will find this tool helpful. We would be very pleased to receive your feedback.
Yours sincerely,
Stefan Grzybowski, MD
Colleen Kirkham, MD
Colleen Kirkham, MD
Women planning a pregnancy please use this link:
