Taylor Jackson completed an internship as a Centering Research Assistant at Greenville Health System in South Carolina. Their responsibilities included assisting with CenteringPregnancy prenatal care groups, enrolling patients in the CRADLE research study on preterm birth rates, and screening potential study participants. The goal of the internship was to gain experience in coordinating prenatal care and conducting perinatal research through projects like designing informational materials for the CRADLE study. Overall, the internship provided valuable lessons in prenatal care delivery and an opportunity to contribute to an important research study.

1. Centering Research
Assistant
Greenville Health System
Spring Internship 2016
Taylor Jackson

2. Introduction
I completed my internship at
the OB/GYN Center in
Greenville, SC with the
Greenville Health System.
I held the position of Centering
Research Assistant. I was given
the opportunity to work in the
OB/GYN clinic as well as the
Greenville Hospital and enjoyed
it immensely.

3. Site
Above is the OB/GYN center sign
where I spent my time working with
CenteringPregnancy program and
the prenatal patients.
The clinic served not only as a facility
for CenteringPregnancy, but also for
many other services a prenatal patient
may need. Centering was giving their
own entrance, shown above, so that
patients could skip the hassle of a
waiting room.

4. Cradle Study Site
Although my internship as a Centering Research
Assistant was based at the OB/GYN Center my
responsibilities and projects allowed me to travel and do
work at the Medical Office building and engage with
providers and patients.
The MMOB building
pictured to the left is where I
recruited many of the
patients to be enrolled in the
Cradle study. I worked and
consented patients on the
fourth floor during their first
trimester screenings,
booking appointments, and
anatomy scans.

5. Description
Mission Statement
“To improve the health of people in our communities in a
cost effective manor.”
The OB/GYN center has dedicated their facility to
bettering care for women in the community in need of
gynecologic and obstetric patient care. The center
provides CenteringPregnancy which is a form of prenatal
care that incorporates three main components: medical
care, education, and social support. Along with the quality
prenatal care to women with low risk pregnancies, the
center has a sector for South Carolina Medicaid, WIC
program, a clinical nutrition specialist, and social workers
that are on site at all time.

6. Goals
By the end of my rotation, I want to be knowledgeable about the
CRADLE study and be able to keep up to date with the progress of the
participants.
During my time working on the CRADLE, I want to help as best I can
to make the study organized and efficient as possible.
I want to successfully help the patient and participants of the
CRADLE complete their forms so that they are eligible for the study
and their incentive.
During my time, I want to join a centering group and help them with
any questions about their pregnancy and make them feel comfortable
and cared for.
During my rotation, I have a goal of revamping the entranceway.
Sarah has expressed her discontentment with the entrance way and
her want to change it and make it better, but due to her lack of time
and craft skills has never done it.
During this rotation, I personally hope to make new contacts and
learn more about myself professionally, and where I would like to be.

7. Intern Responsibilities
Below are listed day to day roles and duties required of me throughout the
semester.
• Attend CenteringPregnancy sessions.
• Add dialogue to the CenteringPregnancy session and help keep women
focused.
• Put out snack before the session.
• Help women with any biometric data collection at beginning of prenatal
visit.
• Shadowed healthcare providers and understand the flow of the OB/GYN
center.
• Attend meetings regarding to adjust Cradle consent.
• Help enroll patients for the Cradle study.
• Help reach the Cradle soft start goal of enrolling 40 patients.

8. CenteringPregnancy
The OB/GYN center provides a
large variety of prenatal services
to their patients. However, I
worked directly under the
CenteringPregnancy
Coordinator, Sarah Covington-
Kolb.
Together we coordinated care of
patients involved in
CenteringPregnancy groups as
well as participating in the
Centering secession. The clinic
can see up to 300 patients a
day. Needless to say, Sarah
holds a very crucial role in the
clinic.
My preceptor, Sarah Covington-
Kolb

9. CenteringPregnancy
I served my patients
by helping with the
CenteringPregnancy
groups. I was able to
build strong patient
relationships and
uphold a level of care
to insure that their
prenatal care was of
great quality. On this
particular day we
discussed the
advantages of
breastfeeding and
importance of
managing stress.
Centering Group 249, such a fun group of
women!

10. Travel with
CenteringPregnancy
Traveling to different hospitals in
the state to review their progress in
their CenteringPregnancy groups
to discuss any problems they may
arise with their patients.
Centering is a fairly new form of
healthcare that is being implement
into different areas around the
state. Sites in Lexington, Anderson,
and Florence were new facilities
which required a check in for
monitory purposes. I traveled to the
manning location along with Sarah
to talk to the facility about
implementing Centering Care in
their practice.

11. Coordinating Care
Interning with Greenville
Health System has taught me
the value of coordinating
care. Not all healthcare can
be delivered by hand in a
clinical setting. A lot of work
goes into managing and
organizing prenatal care
before make contact with the
patients. This picture
demonstrates preparing for a
centering group. I would
benefit and feel more
comfortable in front of
patients if I went over the
discussion topics before
hand. This particular session
we were discussing all the
various options of birth control
that the women can access.

12. What is the CRADLE
Study?• CRADLE Stands for Centering and Racial Disparities
(CraDle).
• NIH (National Institutes of Health) has given Greenville
Health System a grant to fund the Cradle study to discover
the effects of CenteringPregnancy.
• The purpose of this study is to see if CenteringPregnancy has
any effect on reducing preterm birth less than 37 weeks.
• It is a randomized control trial of 3,000 patients expected to
be completed in three years.
• The women that enroll in the study will be randomized into
individual, one-on-one care, or to CenteringPregnancy
• There will be surveys conducted to gather data from the
mother before and after delivery as well as data on the
babies once they are born.

13. Cradle Designs
I designed this Cradle photos for the
study’s soft start. This will allow patients
and providers to recognize the study and
gain publicity because it is a very new
project for GHS.

14. Connecting
Patients
I created this Facebook page so that women
participating in the study can stay up to date on
the progress. This will be a easy way to connect
with the patients to remind them to attend their
prenatal appointments and collect their gift cards

15. CenteringPregnancy
ProjectCenteringPregnancy delivers high quality prenatal care, while also offering a social
aspect. The advantages of meeting with a group and building relationships helps
lower stress and allows the women to feel more comfortable.
Sarah had expressed her concern with the atmosphere of he clinic and her hopes of
making it a more relaxed and inviting place. Pictures and decorations helped make
the facility more inviting.
A board of previous CenteringPregnancy babies.
During the third trimester women can “get on the board”
meaning they have almost reached the finish line!
Patients often struggle with being very pregnant and this
helps lift the moral.

16. Community Tree
I painted a tree to make
the office space more
inviting and encourage
patient involvement. This
family tree servers as a
painting a family tree so
that mothers can put their
thumbprint on the tree
along side the other
mothers and now friends in
the group. When the
women come in for their
postpartum visit, they will
add the baby’s thumbprint
to the tree.

17. Cradle Project
• The Cradle Study is a large and extensive study. One way that I
found I could help and add value to the study was by screening
patients.
• I would go through the patient’s demographics a health care records
to discover if the individual would be applicable to the study.
• If, yes I would identify them to the study. If Not, I would disqualify
them from the study.
• Based on the data I collected through the patient’s history I created a
spread sheet for every day of the week so that the upcoming patients
and all their information would be available at easy access.
• This project freed up a lot of time for the research nurses. It allowed
the soft start to be more organized and soft start to run more
smoothly.
• Since my start with the Cradle project we screen 73 patients in a
month and half time frame.

18. Reflection
In conclusion, I have learn so much about prenatal
care. I was allowed to dive in and get involved with
the research and collecting of data. I feel very
honored to have helped with the large and impressive
study.
Looking back I can see how the results of the Cradle
Study could change the way that prenatal care is
administered in South Carolina. This makes me very
excited and more interested in a career in research.
The work I completed during my internship was
challenging and rewarding. I value the patient and
professional relationships I developed during my time
with Greenville Health System as a Centering
Research Assistant.