Current Resources for Evidence‐Based Practice, July/August 2006

To refl ect its contemporary focus, Maternity Center Association recently changed its name to Childbirth Connection. Childbirth Connection con-tinues the national not-for-profi t organization ’ s 88-year role as a voice for the needs and interests of childbearing families and focus on improving the quality of maternity care, by promoting evidence-based maternity care. This commentary summarizes resources that are available for health professionals on Childbirth Connection ’ s redesigned and ex-panded Web site. The Childbirth Connection Web site ( http://www.childbirthconnection.org ) has separate substantial areas for childbearing families and health profession-als. The health professional area includes the follow-ing sections: • Evidence-Based Maternity Care Resource Di-rectory: continuously updated topically orga-nized inventory of Web sites, articles, books, organizations, and so forth, to help identify, ap-praise, and apply better quality evidence for maternal-newborn care • Evidence Columns: collected PDF fi les of this column from the 1st in early 2003 through new ones as they become available • Systematic Reviews: key resources from system-atic reviews that Childbirth Connection has commissioned, participated in, or carried out • A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth: the full text of the 3rd edition of this acclaimed manual • Listening to Mothers: resources from the 1st na-tional U.S. survey of women ’ s childbearing expe-riences (2002) and the new 2006 second survey and follow-up postpartum mother ’ s survey • Alerts and Responses: occasional bulletins from Childbirth Connection to help interpret new re-ports or recent events of great importance to mothers and newborns • Resources for Women: overview of the exten-sive resources in the women ’ s area of the site to help childbearing women become active participants in their care and make informed decisions • The Rights of Childbearing Women: Childbirth Connection ’ s highly regarded rights statement, which applies core human rights to childbearing and indicates the legal status of individual rights. These evolving resources can lend a hand with the challenging responsibility 21st century health professionals have to understand, provide and foster care that is consistent with results of best available research.