POPULATION-BASED PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE FOR WOMEN - AN OVERVIEW FOR MIDWIVES

This home study program has as its focus population-based care for wom en. Although clearly significant, concentrating effort solely on the i ndividual does not ensure that the population as a whole is healthier. Experts are encouraging health care providers to consider the populat ion as their ''patient'' and to begin documenting the incidence and pr evalence of its disease. This article addresses the following issues: the definition of population-based health care; the relationship betwe en primary care, women's health care, and population-based health care ; the importance of a population-based approach or perspective for mid wives; the use of population-based care in the provision of prenatal c are; the definition of the populations to whom midwives have historica lly provided care and the documentation of how those populations are c hanging; and the research and policy issues for midwives related to po pulation-based health care. (C) 1997 by the American College of Nurse- Midwives.