This presentation will review evidence-based strategies for promoting vaginal births in the hospital setting. Both system and patient-care level strategies to create a shift in hospital birthing unit culture and behaviors will be discussed.

Jessica Brumley CNM, PhD (she/her) has been a midwife for 20 years. She is the Director of the Division of Midwifery at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. In this role, she has helped to grow a full-scope midwifery service that is an integral part of clinical care, education, and research within the College of Medicine Department of OBGYN. The USF Midwives partner with Tampa General Hospital to advocate for care practices, tools, and policies that support family-centered, physiologic birth. With no Florida Midwifery Education Programs, the USF Midwives serve as a large clinical placement site for Midwifery students in addition to working with USF learners. Understanding the importance of midwives working within a well-integrated system to provide safe birth outcomes, Jessica coordinates outreach to community-based midwives to facilitate smooth safe transfers when indicated. She has partnered with the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative to develop and implement labor support training throughout the state, focusing on reducing the low-risk cesarean section rate. She has been an active leader in the American College of Nurse-Midwives for many years. She has served as Tampa chapter chair, Florida President, and current ACNM Board of Directors President-elect. In everything she does, Jessica strives to strengthen, grow, and diversify the midwifery profession.