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Obstetricians at Oregon Health & Science University have been facing a common challenge: Increasingly, patients are seeking medical information from sources outside the traditional health care system, including social media and artificial intelligence platforms, which are often not reliable, complete or accurate. Exposure to misinformation spread online can create confusion, resistance and mistrust that may delay critical interventions during labor.

As a result, many patients arrive for their induction—a process that uses medications or other methods to begin labor—with information that does not align with professional guidelines, and choose to decline evidence-based care recommendations from their obstetric clinicians, says Samuel Melville, M.D., a resident physician in obstetrics and gynecology at the OHSU School of Medicine.

To address this issue, clinician-scientists from the OHSU Center for Women's Health developed a "labor guide," providing patients with a handbook about labor induction and interventions.

A study published today in the journal Pregnancy described the outcomes: Having clear, accessible information significantly increased patients' perceived self-control and satisfaction during labor and delivery.

"Many patients turn to social media for information because they're not getting enough of that education from their providers, and we want to bridge the gap," said Melville, the study's lead author.

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