Dr. Mark Sloan
REACHE Board Member, Catherine Berglund: I'm here with pediatrician and author Dr. Mark Sloan, who will be addressing the "Baby" part of our upcoming conference. Dr. Sloan, you've been in general pediatric practice for decades; what made you decide to focus on the first 24 hours in a baby's life in your book "Birth Day"?
Dr. Mark Sloan: Well, I'd always been interested in that time period because I've done a lot of work, most of my night calls the first 20 years I was in practice, in labor and delivery units and intensive care nurseries, so I had a lot of time, while waiting for babies to come out, to think about the whole process. It's always been fascinating for me because I do think that probably the most dramatic day of life really is the day of birth. The more I read about it, the more fascinating it got. That's how I got interested in it.
CB: Can you tell us a little more about the talk you're planning for our childbirth educators' conference?
MS: Yes, I'm going to be talking about the new research about the benefits of vaginal birth for babies, both in terms of their immune systems and their general health and conversely, the disadvantages of Caesarean birth and how the colonization of the newborn bowel does have apparently long-term impacts for children. The colonization is very different if you're born vaginally vs. if you're born by Caesarean section, so I'll be talking about that. The last five years or so has been when a lot of the research has come out, and it's really very exciting, and a little spooky, too.
CB: Well, our audience always loves getting up-to-date, evidence-based information, so that sounds really great. I know you hope to have an interactive session, with audience members being able to give you their instant feedback. Can you tell us a little more about what you envision for that?
MS: Well, I'd like to see, just to get to know the audience, in terms of what their experiences have been, in terms of when they were born, and the circumstances they were born in and see any health issues that may have come out of the way they were born. This will all be done anonymously. People can vote and it's kind of fun because you kind of get to see that the trends we've seen with Caesarean sections over the last few decades are really true with the people sitting in the room. That's always an interesting thing to do. And I'm sure I'm going to come up with some more between now and then, but that's my first idea, just to try to get to know the audience pretty well. I think that brings the issue home to people.
CB: That sounds great. We love to keep our audience awake and that certainly sounds like it would! This year's conference's secondary title is "What You Don't Already Know." What would you most like audience members to know about after your session? Do you care to elaborate any more on that?
MS: What I'd like them to understand is that the debate about Caesarean section, about Caesarean birth, has for a long time focused on short-term outcomes for mothers and babies and then longer-term outcomes for mothers, in terms of injury or problems with future pregnancies from Caesareans, or pelvic floor issues with vaginal birth. I'd like them to know now that there's a new dimension added to the discussion, and that is "What effect does that mode of delivery have on the baby, on children, and the adults they're going to turn into?" So, I think it does sort of shift the landscape in the discussion about trying to get Caesareans down to a manageable number again, or a healthier number again. That's going to be a lot of work and take a long time, but I think this sort of information is going to help spur that.
CB: It sounds like it would be really pertinent to our audience. And although it has nothing to do with our conference, I couldn't resist asking you what effect Grey's Anatomy's writers had on your life. (Most of the rest of us would not have to scroll though ten pages of photos to find one of ourselves in Google Images!)
MS: Actually, the Dr. Mark Sloan on Grey's Anatomy is the second TV Dr. Mark Sloan! There was a previous one, and I'll ask you if you know who that was? Dick van Dyke played Dr. Mark Sloan on "Diagnosis Murder" from 1993 till all eternity when you count the reruns, so I've been dealing with this for almost 20 years now! So, yeah, I always have to sort of have a disclaimer at the start of my talks, so that anybody who was expecting Eric Dane from Grey's Anatomy, they're free to go and we'll refund their money!