[Utilization of tacit knowledge by maternal healthcare providers: a systematic mapping of the literature]

Introduction: The search for efficient answers to strengthen maternal health care has included various sources of evidence for decision making. In this article, we present a systematic mapping of the scientific literature on the use of tacit knowledge in relation to maternal healthcare.

Methods: A systematic mapping was conducted of scientific articles published in Spanish and English between 1971 and 2014 following the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines.

Results: Of 793 articles, 30 met the inclusion criteria; 60% were from high-income countries and 66.7% were focused on health professionals. We identified a predominance of qualitative methodologies (62%). Four categories regarding the use of tacit knowledge were generated: proposals to improve the organization of the maternal care system (30%) and to improve the care provided to women during the continuum of pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum (26.7%), determination of health workers' perception and skill levels (26.7%) and the interactions between tacit and explicit knowledge in clinical decision making (16.7%).

Conclusions: This mapping shows that tacit knowledge is an emerging, innovative and versatile research approach used primarily in high-income countries and that includes interesting possibilities for its use as evidence to improve maternal healthcare, particularly in middle- and low-income countries, where it needs to be strengthened.