What a doula does

A doula is a trained, non-medical support person. They are with the birthing family before, during, and after birth — providing emotional support, physical comfort measures (positioning, breathing techniques, massage), and clear communication about what's happening in the room.

They do not give medical advice, perform clinical procedures, deliver babies, or make clinical decisions. The OB, midwife, nurses, and other licensed providers continue to do all of that. A doula is an addition to the care team, not a replacement for it.

The most rigorous evidence comes from a 2017 Cochrane systematic review by Bohren et al., which combined 26 randomized controlled trials covering more than 15,000 participants across 17 countries. The findings:

• 39% reduction in the risk of Cesarean delivery when continuous support comes from a doula
• 15% increase in the likelihood of spontaneous vaginal birth
• 10% reduction in the use of any pain medication
• Labors approximately 40 minutes shorter on average
• 38% reduction in the risk of newborns having a low five-minute Apgar score
• 31% reduction in the risk of dissatisfaction with the birth experience
• No risks identified across any outcome studied

Bohren MA, Hofmeyr GJ, Sakala C, Fukuzawa RK, Cuthbert A. Continuous support for women during childbirth. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017.

GatorDoulas is a volunteer student doula program. Medical students at the institution complete an intensive training in the doula role, then are paired with expectant families who opt into doula support.

The model works because student doulas have something many professional doulas can't offer: time. They can commit to continuous presence through a long labor. They're also building a clinical career and bring genuine investment to maternal health beyond a single shift.

Doula support through GatorDoulas is free to families. Doulas are volunteers; the platform supporting the program is a non-profit.

If you opt into doula support, here's the typical arc:

1. Match. The program assigns you a primary student doula and a secondary backup.
2. Pre-birth meeting.Your doula reaches out during pregnancy to introduce themselves, learn what kind of support you're looking for, and talk through a birth plan.
3. On-call for birth. When labor begins, your doula heads to the hospital and stays with you through delivery. If labor extends past their availability, the secondary takes over.
4. Postpartum check-in. Your doula follows up after the birth — usually a phone call or visit within the first week.

You can decline doula support at any point — before, during, or after labor — without affecting your clinical care.

The platform supporting GatorDoulas is built so it never stores Protected Health Information (PHI). Patient records use system-generated aliases only (like "UF-2026-0042"), not real names. Real patient identity stays in the hospital's electronic health record. The doula learns who their assigned family actually is verbally, on the unit, from the charge nurse — never from a screen.

Each institution's data is also isolated from every other institution's — row-level security at the database level enforces this regardless of what code touches the data.

See the FAQ for shorter answers to the most common questions, or get in touch.