About Bump & Beyond
During the pregnancy and postpartum period, there is information to be found everywhere, from TikTok to family members. But finding trustworthy information can be difficult. This is especially true for people who speak a language other than English or who have specific needs related to medical conditions or cultural considerations.
When a pregnant person looks for comprehensive information and can’t find it in their language, it decreases trust in the healthcare system, reduces their ability to take part in their own care, and can ultimately lead to worse outcomes for both pregnant people and their babies.
Over 70 percent of patients who give birth at Boston Medical Center identify as people of color and nearly 40 percent have a primary language other than English, making these issues critical to address for our patients. While written materials for pregnant patients are available in a variety of languages and BMC offers a robust Interpreter Services program, gaps in accessible, relevant information were still identified.
To help fill this gap and empower patients with information for pregnancy, birth, the postpartum period, and newborn care, BMC clinical experts and patients developed Bump & Beyond.
Building Bump & Beyond
Bump & Beyond was funded with a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which allowed us to take a deeper, more intentional approach and bring together patient voices, clinical expertise, and design to build a more comprehensive, multilingual experience.
Grounded in Clinical Expertise
The resources on the site build on ten years of content developed by BMC midwives, grounded in the real needs and questions of our patients. These resources were expanded by a clinical education committee made up of experts in maternal-child health, nutrition, and mental health, who ensured the content is accurate, actionable, and evidence based. In addition, bringing together the experts who care for pregnant patients throughout their time at BMC ensures that patients receive consistent guidance both in the exam room and online.
Designed to Reflect our Patients
Another crucial piece of content development was our patient advisory board, who worked closely with our clinical education committee to shape our content and design by bringing their insight and the lived experience of BMC patients to this project. This merging of expert clinical knowledge and firsthand knowledge of giving birth at BMC created a unique resource center with trustworthy medical content that is specifically relevant for our patients.
Written content was enhanced by illustrations from The Educated Birth, who worked with BMC on inclusive, patient-centered visual storytelling. This helps ensure the site truly reflects our patient population and allows patients to see themselves in the content and builds trust that these resources are for them. In addition, the illustrations help patients understand complex topics, particularly patients with lower literacy levels, in all languages.
Developed as an Easy-to-Use Experience
The Bump & Beyond website was built by the BMC Marketing and Communications team, who turned the expert information into a comprehensive digital experience where patients can get the information they need, endorsed by what providers find most crucial. The digital experience also aligns pre-and-postnatal education across the BMC Health System, as it functions as a repository for providers to access high-quality information to share with patients.
What This Means for Patients
These partnerships led to a comprehensive, web-based perinatal education resource center that helps BMC provide equitable, person-centered care to pregnant patients and their families. The multilingual and multicultural content on Bump & Beyond reflects our diverse patient population and is adapted to be accessible for a wide range of literacy levels.
By providing evidence-based, provider-backed information in the languages our community speaks, Bump & Beyond provides patients with a clearer understanding of how to navigate pregnancy and the postpartum period. They can better understand what’s happening, what to expect, and when to seek care. Most importantly, they can feel empowered to ask questions and take an active role in their care, because when patients feel supported, outcomes improve for both pregnant people and their babies.