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• Incorporate preconception and genetics into your everyday practice.
• Use our patient education tools in preconception and prenatal care.
• Use our Prematurity Campaign resources to help improve birth outcomes.

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The California Chapter of the March of Dimes, in partnership with Sutter Medical Center Sacramento, has created the evidence-based Preterm Labor Assessment Toolkit. This toolkit has been endorsed by California District IX of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and by the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

The objective of the toolkit is to standardize the assessment and diagnosis of preterm labor among health care professionals to allow for:

• A uniform diagnosis of preterm labor
• Timely interventions
• Proper transport of patients at greatest risk for preterm delivery
• A decrease in unnecessary hospitalizations and treatments
• Improved allocation of scarce nursing/hospital resources
• Increased maternal-fetal safety

This toolkit provides guidance for the assessment and triage of women with suspected preterm labor, but it does not dictate treatment. The March of Dimes urges health care professionals to compare current practices for assessing women with the evidence-based guidelines offered in this toolkit.

The March of Dimes hopes that health care professionals, hospitals, and birthing centers across the United States will join our chapters in establishing standard protocols to minimize premature delivery and to optimize outcomes when preterm labor does occur.

If your hospital or birthing center would like to adopt the standards contained in the toolkit, please consider working with your March of Dimes chapter. To find your local chapter, visit our directory.

Download a free copy of the toolkit and slides at the Prematurity Prevention Resource Center. Registration is required. Or purchase a copy at marchofdimes.com/catalog.