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The overall objective of the PREGNETS program is to decrease the negative consequences of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke on the woman, fetus, and child by encouraging healthcare providers to include minimal contact interventions into routine assessments and healthcare.
PREGNETS will encourage healthcare professionals, researchers, policy makers and consumers to develop a network that will focus on the issue of smoking in pregnancy and postpartum. The information collected will help in the creation of a toolkit of best practices for addressing the issue of smoking and pregnancy.
Consensus Framework
Develop a proposal to address the issue of smoking among pregnant and postpartum women in Ontario
Increase utilization of existing resources
Encourage health care providers to refer clients who are pregnant or postpartum to existing smoking cessation resources in their community
Desk Reference
Develop a one-page reference tool for health care providers outlining the harmful effects of smoking on woman, fetus and child and how to deliver brief cessation interventions to their clients
Website
Create a website - pregnets.org - which will host the most up-to-date information on smoking cessation practices for pregnant and postpartum women.
Programme Evaluation
PREGNETS will evaluate a training program to disseminate best practices to clinicians on smoking cessation with pregnant and postpartum women.
Over the next two years (2002 - 2004), PREGNETS will train the Smokers' Helpline Quit Specialists, Motherisk Information Line staff, and several health care providers at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto, and services affiliated with that hospital. Trainees will include:
- Obstetricians
- Family physicians
- Pediatricians
- Labour and Delivery Room Nurses
- Public Health Nurses
- Midwives
- Lactation consultants
- Prenatal and postpartum social workers
- Pharmacists and Dentists
A questionnaire will be completed by participants to collect information on current practices, knowledge and attitudes about smoking cessation with pregnant and postpartum women. A follow-up questionnaire will help determine the impact of the training on the above measures.
