Topics for family medicine research in obstetrics.

Primarily because of improvements in care of the low-birthweight neonate, Canada's neonatal mortality rates have declined significantly over the last 20 years. To make further improvement, research is now focused on the prevention of prematurity. However, benefits from the implementation of such research and the maintenance of the current neonatal mortality rate depend on the availability of obstetric care providers in rural areas. The recent trend among family physicians to drop the practice of obstetrics significantly jeopardizes access to obstetric care for inhabitants of rural areas, and a significant body of literature suggests that such declines in access will be accompanied by an increase in the neonatal death rate. A logical research agenda for rural family physicians would include the forecasting of the effect of the decrease in obstetric care manpower, follwed by the study of factors behind this trend, and the evaluation programs designed to prevent family physicians abandoning obstetric practice.