Effect of a comprehensive obstetric patient safety program on compensation payments and sentinel events

The Role of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospitalist in the Changing Landscape of Obstetrics and Gynecology Practice

As the field of obstetrics and gynecology (Ob/Gyn) evolves, the role of the Ob/Gyn hospitalists has become increasingly integrated into the framework of the specialty. Ob/Gyn hospitalists take on essential responsibilities as competent clinicians in emergent situations and as hospital leaders: maintaining standard of care, collaborating with community practitioners and care teams, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, and contributing to educational initiatives. The impact of the Ob/Gyn hospitalists is positive for patients, fellow clinicians, and institutions. As the field continues to change and the Ob/Gyn hospitalist develops as an established subspecialty, further research evaluating its role remains essential.

OBGYN Hospitalist Fellowships: An Update on Fellowship Training in the United States

Due to improved outcomes in clinical care, patient safety, and education, demand for OBGYN hospitalists is increasing. As a result, an OBGYN hospitalist fellowship was developed to train future leaders in OBGYN hospital medicine. This article is a discussion regarding the landscape of OBGYN hospitalist fellowships across the country. Utilizing information from program-specific Web sites, as well as discussions with past and present fellowship directors, this article summarizes key differences and similarities across programs, as well as reviews important considerations for those hoping to start a fellowship at their own institution.

The Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospitalist: Risk Management Implications

The concept of a 24/7 in-house obstetrician, serving as an obstetrics and gynecology (Ob/Gyn) hospitalist, provides a safety-net for obstetric and gynecologic events that may need immediate intervention for a successful outcome. The addition of an Ob/Gyn hospitalist role in the perinatal department mitigates loss prevention, a key precept of risk management. Inherent in the role of the Ob/Gyn hospitalist are the important patient safety and risk management principles of layers of back-up, enhanced teamwork and communications, and immediate availability.

Obstetric violence is a misnomer

The term "obstetric violence" has been used in the legislative language of several countries to protect mothers from abuse during pregnancy. Subsequently, it has been expanded to include a spectrum of obstetric procedures, such as induction of labor, episiotomy, and cesarean delivery, and has surfaced in the peer-reviewed literature. The term "obstetric violence" can be seen as quite strong and emotionally charged, which may lead to misunderstandings or misconceptions. It might be interpreted as implying a deliberate act of violence by healthcare providers when mistreatment can sometimes result from systemic issues, lack of training, or misunderstandings rather than intentional violence. "Obstetric mistreatment" is a more comprehensive term that can encompass a broader range of behaviors and actions. "Violence" generally refers to the intentional use of physical force to cause harm, injury, or damage to another person (eg, physical assault, domestic violence, street fights, or acts of terrorism), whereas "mistreatment" is a more general term and refers to the abuse, harm, or control exerted over another person (such as nonconsensual medical procedures, verbal abuse, disrespect, discrimination and stigmatization, or neglect, to name a few examples). There may be cases where unprofessional personnel may commit mistreatment and violence against pregnant patients, but as obstetrics is dedicated to the health and well-being of pregnant and fetal patients, mistreatment of obstetric patients should never be an intended component of professional obstetric care. It is necessary to move beyond the term "obstetric violence" in discourse and acknowledge and address the structural dimensions of abusive reproductive practices. Similarly, we do not use the term "psychiatric violence" for appropriately used professional procedures in psychiatry, such as electroshock therapy, or use the term "neurosurgical violence" when drilling a burr hole. There is an ongoing need to raise awareness about the potential mistreatment of obstetric patients within the context of abuse against women in general. Using the term "mistreatment in healthcare" instead of the more limited term "obstetric violence" is more appropriate and applies to all specialties when there is unprofessional abuse and mistreatment, such as biased care, neglect, emotional abuse (verbal), or physical abuse, including performing procedures that are unnecessary, unindicated, or without informed patient consent. Healthcare providers must promote unbiased, respectful, and patient-centered professional care; provide an ethical framework for all healthcare personnel; and work toward systemic change to prevent any mistreatment or abuse in our specialty.

Alignment of an interprofessional student learning experience with a hospital quality improvement initiative

Assessment of interprofessional education (IPE) frequently focuses on students' learning outcomes including changes in knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes. While a foundational education in the values and information of their chosen profession is critical, interprofessional learning follows a continuum from formal education to practice. The continuum increases in significance and complexity as learning becomes more relationship based and dependent upon the ability to navigate complex interactions with patients, families, communities, co-workers, and others. Integrating IPE into collaborative practice is critical to enhancing students' experiential learning, developing teamwork competencies, and understanding the complexity of teams. This article describes a project that linked students with a hospital-based quality-improvement effort to focus on the acquisition and practice of teamwork skills and to determine the impact of teamwork on patient and quality outcome measures. A hospital unit was identified with an opportunity for improvement related to quality care, patient satisfaction, employee engagement, and team behaviours. One hundred and thirty-seven students from six health profession colleges at the Medical University of South Carolina underwent TeamSTEPPS® training and demonstrated proficiency of their teamwork-rating skills with the TeamSTEPPS® Team Performance Observation Tool (T-TPO). Students observed real-time team behaviours of unit staff before and after staff attended formal TeamSTEPPS® training. The students collected a total of 778 observations using the T-TPO. Teamwork performance on the unit improved significantly across all T-TPO domains (team structure, communication, leadership, situation monitoring, and mutual support). Significant improvement in each domain continued post-intervention and at 15-month follow-up, improvement remained significant compared to baseline. Student engagement in TeamSTEPPS® training and demonstration of their reliability as teamwork-observers was a valuable learning experience and also yielded an opportunity to gather unique, and otherwise difficult to attain, data from a hospital unit for use by quality managers and administrators.

A systematic review of brachial plexus injuries after caesarean birth: challenging delivery?

BACKGROUND

Caesarean section (CS) is widely perceived as protective against obstetric brachial plexus injury (BPI), but few studies acknowledge the factors associated with such injury. The objectives of this study were therefore to aggregate cases of BPI after CS, and to illuminate risk factors for BPI.

METHODS

Pubmed Central, EMBASE and MEDLINE databases were searched using free text: ("brachial plexus injury" or "brachial plexus injuries" or "brachial plexus palsy" or "brachial plexus palsies" or "Erb's palsy" or "Erb's palsies" or "brachial plexus birth injury" or "brachial plexus birth palsy") and ("caesarean" or "cesarean" or "Zavanelli" or "cesarian" or "caesarian" or "shoulder dystocia"). Studies with clinical details of BPI after CS were included. Studies were assessed using the National Institutes for Healthy Study Quality Assessment Tool for Case Series, Cohort and Case-Control Studies.

MAIN RESULTS

39 studies were eligible. 299 infants sustained BPI after CS. 53% of cases with BPI after CS had risk factors for likely challenging handling/manipulation of the fetus prior to delivery, in the presence of considerable maternal or fetal concerns, and/or in the presence of poor access due to obesity or adhesions.

CONCLUSIONS

In the presence of factors that would predispose to a challenging delivery, it is difficult to justify that BPI could occur due to in-utero, antepartum events alone. Surgeons should exercise care when operating on women with these risk factors.

Getting Ready for 2021 Joint Commission Perinatal Standards: Lessons From the Field

SUMMARY STATEMENT

The new Joint Commission requirements on perinatal safety present a unique opportunity for the simulation community to actively engage with labor and delivery units nationwide. Considerations for implementation using "real-life" experience with the programmatic development of an in situ team-based simulation training program in obstetric emergencies are discussed. We urge simulationists to explore opportunities to promote culture change on a large scale to move the needle of maternal morbidity and mortality.

Organizational strategies to optimize women's safety during labor and birth: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Safety is a priority for organizations that provide maternity care, however, preventable harm and errors in maternity care remain. Maternity care is considered a high risk and high litigation area of health care. To mitigate risk and litigation, organizations have implemented strategies to optimize women's safety. Our objectives were to identify the strategies implemented by organizations to optimize women's safety during labor and birth, and to consider how the concept of safety is operationalized to measure and evaluate outcomes of these strategies.

METHOD

This scoping review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute Scoping Review Methodology. Published peer-reviewed literature indexed in CINAHL, Medline, and Embase, databases from 2010 to 2020, were reviewed for inclusion. Fifty studies were included. Data were extracted and thematically analyzed.

RESULTS

Three categories of organizational strategies were identified to optimize women's safety during labor and birth: clinical governance, models of care, and staff education. Clinical governance programs (n = 30 studies), specifically implementing checklists and audits, models of care, such as midwifery led-care (n = 11 studies), and staff training programs (n = 9 studies), were predominately for the management of obstetric emergencies. Outcome measures included morbidity and mortality for woman and newborns. Three studies discussed women's perceptions of safety during labor and birth as an outcome measure.

CONCLUSIONS

Organizations utilize a range of strategies to optimize women's safety during labor and birth. The main outcome measure used to evaluate strategies was focused on clinical outcomes for the mother and newborn.

Neonatal mortality in the United States is related to location of birth (hospital versus home) rather than the type of birth attendant

BACKGROUND

Planned home births have leveled off in the United States in recent years after a significant rise starting in the mid-2000s. Planned home births in the United States are associated with increased patient-risk profiles. Multiple studies concluded that, compared with hospital births, absolute and relative risks of perinatal mortality and morbidity in US planned home births are significantly increased.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the safety of birth in the United States by comparing the neonatal mortality outcomes of 2 locations, hospital birth and home birth, by 4 types of attendants: hospital midwife; certified nurse-midwife at home; direct-entry ("other") midwife at home; and attendant at home not identified, using the most recent US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention natality data on neonatal mortality for planned home births in the United States. Outcomes are presented as absolute risks (neonatal mortality per 10,000 live births) and as relative risks of neonatal mortality (hospital-certified nurse-midwife odds ratio, 1) overall, and for recognized risk factors.

STUDY DESIGN

We used the most current US Centers for Disease and Prevention Control Linked Birth and Infant Death Records for 2010-2017 to assess neonatal mortality (neonatal death days 0-27 after birth) for single, term (37+ weeks), normal-weight ( >2499 g) infants for planned home births and hospital births by birth attendants: hospital-certified nurse-midwives, home-certified nurse-midwives, home other midwives (eg, lay or direct-entry midwives), and other home birth attendant not identified.

RESULTS

The neonatal mortality for US hospital midwife-attended births was 3.27 per 10,000 live births, 13.66 per 10,000 live births for all planned home births, and 27.98 per 10,000 live births for unintended/unplanned home births. Planned home births attended by direct-entry midwives and by certified nurse-midwives had a significantly elevated absolute and relative neonatal mortality risk compared with certified nurse-midwife-attended hospital births (hospital-certified nurse-midwife: 3.27/10,000 live births odds ratio, 1; home birth direct-entry midwives: neonatal mortality 12.44/10,000 live births, odds ratio, 3.81, 95% confidence interval, 3.12-4.65, P<.0001; home birth-certified nurse-midwife: neonatal mortality 9.48/10,000 live births, odds ratio, 2.90, 95% confidence interval, 2.90; P<.0001). These differences increased further when patients were stratified for recognized risk factors.

CONCLUSION

The safety of birth in the United States varies by location and attendant. Compared with US hospital births attended by a certified nurse-midwife, planned US home births for all types of attendants are a less safe setting of birth, especially when recognized risk factors are taken into account. The type of midwife attending US planned home birth appears to have no differential effect on decreasing the absolute and relative risk of neonatal mortality of planned home birth, because the difference in outcomes of US planned home births attended by direct-entry midwives or by certified nurse-midwives is not statistically significant.

Risk Management in Obstetrics and Gynecology

This article will review the basic principles of risk management, the role of the risk manager, and the importance of risk management in the patient safety movement as it pertains to obstetrics and gynecology. Several tools that are used by risk managers including risk assessments and root cause analyses will be used to illustrate positive patient safety measures that can be initiated to decrease adverse outcomes and reduced risk to an organization. The dramatic reduction in adverse outcomes and claims after the introduction of patient safety initiatives in a major obstetrical service will be reviewed.

Causation of permanent brachial plexus injuries to the anterior arm after shoulder dystocia – Literature review

Not all neonatal brachial plexus injuries should be deemed the fault of the accoucheur. However, there is a small (<10%) subset of neonatal brachial plexus injuries that are related to excessive traction by the accoucheur: permanent injuries to the anterior arm after SD. The position regarding posterior injuries remains predominantly the same; if the injury is to the posterior shoulder, the injury is likely to have been caused by maternal propulsion against the sacral promontory before the foetal head is delivered, rather than excessive and inappropriate traction. However, there is no reliable evidence that a combination of maternal propulsion and diagnostic traction alone causes significant and permanent injury to the anterior shoulder after shoulder dystocia. This was recognised in Deith vs. Lanarkshire where the judge found: that where there is a severe injury to an anterior arm after SD, excessive traction is overwhelmingly likely to be the cause.

Fetal Heart Rate Auscultation, 3rd edition

The use of intermittent auscultation (IA) for fetal surveillance during labor decreased with the introduction of electronic fetal monitoring (EFM). The increased use of EFM is associated with an increase in cesarean births. IA is an evidence-based method of fetal surveillance during labor for women with low risk pregnancies and considered one component of comprehensive efforts to reduce the primary cesarean rate and promote vaginal birth. Many clinicians are not familiar with IA practice. This practice monograph includes information on IA techniques; interpretation and documentation; clinical decision-making and interventions; communication; education, staffing, legal issues, and strategies to promote implementation of IA into practice.

Simulation of Shoulder Dystocia for Skill Acquisition and Competency Assessment: A Systematic Review and Gap Analysis

STATEMENT

Mastery of shoulder dystocia management skills acquired via simulation training can reduce neonatal brachial plexus injury by 66% to 90%. However, the correlation between simulation drills and reduction in clinical injuries has been inconsistently replicated, and establishing a causal relationship between simulation training and reduction of adverse clinical events from shoulder dystocia is infeasible due to ethical limitations. Nevertheless, professional liability insurance carriers increasingly are mandating simulation-based rehearsal and competency assessment of their covered obstetric providers' shoulder dystocia management skills-a high-stakes demand that will require rapid scaling up of access to quality shoulder dystocia simulation. However, questions remain about differing simulation training schemes and instructional content used among clinically effective and ineffective educational interventions. This review of original research compares curricular content of shoulder dystocia simulation and reveals several critical gaps: (1) prescriptive instruction prioritizing maneuvers shown to decrease strain on the brachial plexus is inconsistently used. (2) Proscriptive instruction to avoid placing excessive and laterally directed traction on the head or to observe a brief hands-off period before attempting traction is infrequently explicit. (3) Neither relative effectiveness nor potential interaction between prescriptive and proscriptive elements of instruction has been examined directly. (4) Reliability of high-fidelity mannequins capable of objective measurement of clinician-applied traction force as compared with subjective assessment of provider competence is unknown. Further study is needed to address these gaps and inform efficient and effective implementation of clinically translatable shoulder dystocia simulation.

Improved hospital safety performance and reduced medicolegal risk: an ecological study using 2 Canadian databases

BACKGROUND

Few empirical studies have validated the relation between medicolegal risk and hospital patient safety performance. We sought to determine whether there was a relation between in-hospital patient safety events and medicolegal cases involving Canadian physicians.

METHODS

In this ecological study, we used Poisson regression to compare data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information's Discharge Abstract Database and the database of the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) of medicolegal cases over 10 years (2005/06 to 2014/15). We identified incidents and cases based on 15 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality patient safety indicators within the Canadian Institute for Health Information and CMPA data sets. We performed subgroup analyses for obstetrical and surgical cases.

RESULTS

We found a statistically significant positive association between volume changes in patient safety indicator events (n = 339 741) and medicolegal cases (n = 15 180) (parameter estimate 1.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.4 to 1.9). This association suggests that, on average, a 10% decrease in events would correspond to a decrease of 11% in medicolegal cases. The degree of positive association varied by practice type, with obstetrics (97 982 patient safety indicator events, 865 cases) showing a 25% decrease in medicolegal cases for every 10% decrease in events (parameter estimate 2.9, 95% CI 0.5 to 5.3) and surgery (168 886 patient safety indicator events, 4568 cases) showing a decrease of 9% for every 10% decrease in events (parameter estimate 0.9, 95% CI 0.2 to 1.7).

INTERPRETATION

The statistically significant positive association between patient safety indicator events and medicolegal cases quantifies a relation between patient safety and physician medicolegal risk in Canadian hospitals. This suggests new, practical uses for both medicolegal and patient safety indicator data in system-level quality-improvement efforts.

Sustaining and spreading quality improvement: Decreasing intrapartum malpractice risk

BACKGROUND

Malpractice liability is an ongoing problem in obstetrics. However, developing, sustaining, and spreading effective interventions is challenging. The aim of this study is to examine the spread and sustainability of a multilevel integrated practice and coordinated communication model 66 months after its original implementation.

METHODS

Data on labor and delivery patients from 37 hospitals (5 beta sites and 32 expansion sites) were analyzed for the 81-month time period from January 2010 through September 2016.

RESULTS

High-risk occurrence rates per 1000 live births decreased by over 70% at both beta and expansion sites. The likelihood of a high-risk occurrence was statistically significantly lower during the final study period than in the preintervention period at both beta sites (odds ratio [OR] = 0.218; p < .0001) and expansion sites (OR = 0.288; p < .001).

CONCLUSION

The multilevel integrated practice and coordinated communication model was successfully spread and sustained. Key elements contributing to this success included developing and maintaining evidence-based guidelines, ensuring leadership buy-in and support, collecting and reporting performance measures, holding teams accountable, providing training, and ensuring transparent communication.

Clinical performance and patient outcome after simulation-based training in prevention and management of postpartum haemorrhage: an educational intervention study in a low-resource setting

Background

Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is a major cause of maternal mortality. Prevention and adequate treatment are therefore important. However, most births in low-resource settings are not attended by skilled providers, and knowledge and skills of healthcare workers that are available are low. Simulation-based training effectively improves knowledge and simulated skills, but the effectiveness of training on clinical behaviour and patient outcome is not yet fully understood. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of obstetric simulation-based training on the incidence of PPH and clinical performance of basic delivery skills and management of PPH.

Methods

A prospective educational intervention study was performed in a rural referral hospital in Tanzania. Sixteen research assistants observed all births with a gestational age of more than 28 weeks from May 2011 to June 2013. In March 2012 a half-day obstetric simulation-based training in management of PPH was introduced. Observations before and after training were compared. The main outcome measures were incidence of PPH (500–1000 ml and >1000 ml), use and timing of administration of uterotonic drugs, removal of placenta by controlled cord traction, uterine massage, examination of the placenta, management of PPH (>500 ml), and maternal and neonatal mortality at 24 h.

Results

Three thousand six hundred twenty two births before and 5824 births after intervention were included. The incidence of PPH (500–1000 ml) significantly reduced from 2.1% to 1.3% after training (effect size Cohen’s d = 0.07). The proportion of women that received oxytocin (87.8%), removal of placenta by controlled cord traction (96.5%), and uterine massage after birth (93.0%) significantly increased after training (to 91.7%, 98.8%, 99.0% respectively). The proportion of women who received oxytocin as part of management of PPH increased significantly (before training 43.0%, after training 61.2%). Other skills in management of PPH improved (uterine massage, examination of birth canal, bimanual uterine compression), but these were not statistically significant.

Conclusions

The introduction of obstetric simulation-based training was associated with a 38% reduction in incidence of PPH and improved clinical performance of basic delivery skills and management of PPH.

Underlying causes of neonatal deaths in term singleton pregnancies: home births versus hospital births in the United States

INTRODUCTION

The objective of this study was to evaluate the underlying causes of neonatal mortality (NNM) in midwife-attended home births and compare them to hospital births attended by a midwife or a physician in the United States (US).

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) linked birth/infant death data set (linked files) for 2008 through 2012 of singleton, term (≥37 weeks) births and normal newborn weights (≥2500 grams).

RESULTS

Midwife-attended home births had the highest rate of neonatal deaths [122/95,657 neonatal mortality (NNM) 12.75/10,000; relative risk (RR): 3.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3-4.4], followed by hospital physician births (8695/14,447,355 NNM 6.02/10,000; RR: 1.7 95% CI 1.6-1.9) and hospital midwife births (480/1,363,199 NNM 3.52/10,000 RR: 1). Among midwife-assisted home births, underlying causes attributed to labor and delivery caused 39.3% (48/122) of neonatal deaths (RR: 13.4; 95% CI 9-19.9) followed by 29.5% due to congenital anomalies (RR: 2.5; 95% CI 1.8-3.6), and 12.3% due to infections (RR: 4.5; 95% CI 2.5-8.1).

COMMENT

There are significantly increased risks of neonatal deaths among midwife-attended home births associated with three underlying causes: labor and delivery issues, infections, and fetal malformations. This analysis of the causes of neonatal death in planned home birth shows that it is consistently riskier for newborns to deliver at home than at the hospital. Physicians, midwives, and other health care providers have a professional responsibility to share information about the clinical benefits and risks of clinical management.

Clinical perspective: creating an effective practice peer review process-a primer

Peer review serves as an important adjunct to other hospital quality and safety programs. Despite its importance, the available literature contains virtually no guidance regarding the structure and function of effective peer review committees. This Clinical Perspective provides a summary of the purposes, structure, and functioning of effective peer review committees. We also discuss important legal considerations that are a necessary component of such processes. This discussion includes useful templates for case selection and review. Proper committee structure, membership, work flow, and leadership as well as close cooperation with the hospital medical executive committee and legal representatives are essential to any effective peer review process. A thoughtful, fair, systematic, and organized approach to creating a peer review process will lead to confidence in the committee by providers, hospital leadership, and patients. If properly constructed, such committees may also assist in monitoring and enforcing compliance with departmental protocols, thus reducing harm and promoting high-quality practice.

Effect of Nurse-Led Review Plus Simulation on Obstetric/Perinatal Nurses' Self-Assessed Knowledge and Confidence

Simulation may help both novice and experienced clinicians maintain competence in managing high-risk, low-frequency obstetric and perinatal complications and emergencies. Therefore, we designed a pre-/posttest study to determine whether a day of nurse-led lecture plus low-fidelity simulation would increase registered nurses' self-assessed knowledge and confidence in managing five high-risk obstetric/perinatal situations. The Nursing Management of OB/Perinatal Complications & Emergencies (NursOB) scale was distributed to 67 labor/birth and postpartum nurses before and after a simulation training day. Preliminary findings supported validity and reliability of the NursOB scale, but nurses' knowledge and confidence did not improve after the simulation (p < .05). Anecdotally, nurses' interest in competence reviews was reinvigorated, and we gained practical knowledge in simulation delivery. Future simulations could enhance outcome measures, improve drills, and establish criterion-related validity of the NursOB scale. More research is warranted.

Decreasing Malpractice Claims by Reducing Preventable Perinatal Harm

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association of improved patient safety practices with medical malpractice claims and costs in the perinatal units of acute care hospitals.

DATA SOURCES

Malpractice and harm data from participating hospitals; litigation records and medical malpractice claims data from American Excess Insurance Exchange, RRG, whose data are managed by Premier Insurance Management Services, Inc. (owned by Premier Inc., a health care improvement company).

STUDY DESIGN

A quasi-experimental prospective design to compare baseline and postintervention data. Statistical significance tests for differences were performed using chi-square, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and t-test.

DATA COLLECTION

Claims data were collected and evaluated by experienced senior claims managers through on-site claim audits to evaluate claim frequency, severity, and financial information. Data were provided to the analyzing institution through confidentiality contracts.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

There is a significant reduction in the number of perinatal malpractice claims paid, losses paid, and indemnity payments (43.9 percent, 77.6 percent, and 84.6 percent, respectively) following interventions to improve perinatal patient safety and reduce perinatal harm. This compares with no significant reductions in the nonperinatal claims in the same hospitals during the same time period.

CONCLUSIONS

The number of perinatal malpractice claims and dollar amount of claims payments decreased significantly in the participating hospitals, while there was no significant decrease in nonperinatal malpractice claims activity in the same hospitals.

Ethics and professional responsibility: Essential dimensions of planned home birth

Planned home birth is a paradigmatic case study of the importance of ethics and professionalism in contemporary perinatology. In this article we provide a summary of recent analyses of the Centers for Disease Control database on attendants and birth outcomes in the United States. This summary documents the increased risks of neonatal mortality and morbidity of planned home birth as well as bias in Apgar scoring. We then describe the professional responsibility model of obstetric ethics, which is based on the professional medical ethics of two major figures in the history of medical ethics, Drs. John Gregory of Scotland and Thomas Percival of England. This model emphasizes the identification and careful balancing of the perinatologist's ethical obligations to pregnant, fetal, and neonatal patients. This model stands in sharp contrast to one-dimensional maternal-rights-based reductionist model of obstetric ethics, which is based solely on the pregnant woman's rights. We then identify the implications of the professional responsibility model for the perinatologist's role in directive counseling of women who express an interest in or ask about planned home birth. Perinatologists should explain the evidence of the increased, preventable perinatal risks of planned home birth, recommend against it, and recommend planned hospital birth. Perinatologists have the professional responsibility to create and sustain a strong culture of safety committed to a home-birth-like experience in the hospital. By routinely fulfilling these professional responsibilities perinatologists can help to prevent the documented, increased risks planned home birth.

Michigan Health & Hospital Association Keystone Obstetrics: a statewide collaborative for perinatal patient safety in Michigan

BACKGROUND

Preventable harm to mothers and infants during labor and birth is a significant patient safety and professional liability issue. A Michigan Health & Hospital Association Keystone Center for Patient Safety & Quality Obstetric Collaborative Project involved perinatal teams from 15 Michigan hospitals during an 11-month period in 2009. The purpose of the project was to promote safe care practices during labor and birth using the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP). Consistent with the CUSP model, this project's components included assessing and promoting a culture of safety; interdisciplinary team building; case review; learning from defects through multiple methods of education; team and individual coaching and peer encouragement; administrative support for the establishment of a fundamental safety infrastructure; and ongoing evaluation of care processes and outcomes.

METHODS

Study measures included 32 components of a perinatal patient infrastructure, 6 care processes during labor and birth, and 4 neonatal outcomes.

RESULTS

Significant improvements were found in the safety culture (Safety Attitudes Questionnaire), the perinatal patient safety infrastructure components, and all care processes.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the project was successful, getting buy-in from all members of the clinical team in each hospital for all of the measures was challenging at times. There was initial resistance to some of the measures and their various expected aspects of care. For example, some of the clinicians were initially reluctant to adopt the recommended standardized oxytocin protocol. Peer encouragement and unit-based feedback on progress in minimizing early elective births proved useful in many hospitals. A CUSP in obstetrics can be beneficial in improving the care of mothers and infants during labor and birth.

Definitions of Obstetric and Gynecologic Hospitalists

The obstetric hospitalist and the obstetric and gynecologic hospitalist evolved in response to diverse forces in medicine, including the need for leadership on labor and delivery units, an increasing emphasis on quality and safety in obstetrics and gynecology, the changing demographics of the obstetric and gynecologic workforce, and rising liability costs. Current (although limited) research suggests that obstetric and obstetric and gynecologic hospitalists may improve the quality and safety of obstetric care, including lower cesarean delivery rates and higher vaginal birth after cesarean delivery rates as well as lower liability costs and fewer liability events. This research is currently hampered by the use of varied terminology. The leadership of the Society of Obstetric and Gynecologic Hospitalists proposes standardized definitions of an obstetric hospitalist, an obstetric and gynecologic hospitalist, and obstetric and gynecologic hospital medicine practices to standardize communication and facilitate program implementation and research. Clinical investigations regarding obstetric and gynecologic practices (including hospitalist practices) should define inpatient coverage arrangements using these standardized definitions to allow for fair conclusions and comparisons between practices.

The safe motherhood initiative: The development and implementation of standardized obstetric care bundles in New York

The medical literature demonstrates that inadequate hospital protocols or the lack of consistent protocols for diagnosis, management, consultation, and/or referral can lead to confusion and unnecessary variation in patient care. Incongruities in clinical settings have been repeatedly shown to compromise quality of patient outcomes. Accordingly, the development and adoption of standardized protocols as the best practice for addressing incidence of adverse events remains a top priority in health care quality and safety initiatives. Among the 127 hospital facilities that provide inpatient obstetrical care in New York State, adoption and uptake of standardized care management plans is sporadic at best. In 2001, to target the incidence of severe maternal outcomes and enhance the state of maternal health in New York, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) District II and the New York State Department of Health developed the Safe Motherhood Initiative. Today, the Initiative demonstrates that maternal care outcomes are well served through an organized culture of obstetric safety. ACOG District II assists hospitals to optimize their delivery of obstetric care via three toolkits containing standardized protocols for the diagnosis, prevention, and management of the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity: hemorrhage, hypertension, and pulmonary embolus.

An analysis of closed medical litigations against the obstetrics departments in Taiwan from 2003 to 2012†

OBJECTIVE

To examine the epidemiologic data of closed medical claims from Taiwanese civil courts against obstetric departments and identify high-risk diseases.

DESIGN

A retrospective descriptive study.

SETTING/STUDY PARTICIPANTS

The verdicts from the national database of the Taiwan judicial system that pertained to obstetric departments were reviewed. Between 2003 and 2012, a total of 79 closed medical claims were included.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The epidemiologic data of litigations including the results of adjudication and the disease and outcome of the alleged injury.

RESULTS

A majority of the disputes (65.9%) were fetus-related. Four disease categories accounted for 78.5% of all claims including (i) perinatal maternal complications (25.3%); (ii) errors in antenatal screening or ultrasound diagnoses (21.5%); (iii) fetal hypoxemic-ischemia encephalopathy (16.5%); and (iv) brachial plexus injury (15.2%). Six cases (7.6%) resulted in an indemnity payment with a mean amount of $109 205. Fifty-one cases (64.6%) were closed in the district court. The mean incident-to-litigation closure time was 52.9 ± 29.3 months. All cases with indemnity payments were deemed negligent or were at least determined to be controversial by a medical appraisal, while all defendants whose care was judged as appropriate by a medical appraisal won their lawsuits.

CONCLUSIONS

Almost 93% of clinicians win their cases but spend 4.5 years waiting for final adjudication. The court ruled against the clinician only if there was no appropriate response during a complication or if there was no follow-up or further testing for potential critical diseases.

Cardiac Arrest in Pregnancy

This is the first scientific statement from the American Heart Association on maternal resuscitation. This document will provide readers with up-to-date and comprehensive information, guidelines, and recommendations for all aspects of maternal resuscitation. Maternal resuscitation is an acute event that involves many subspecialties and allied health providers; this document will be relevant to all healthcare providers who are involved in resuscitation and specifically maternal resuscitation.

Learning from Adverse Events in Obstetrics: Is a Standardized Computer Tool an Effective Strategy for Root Cause Analysis?

OBJECTIVE

Adverse events occur in up to 10% of obstetric cases, and up to one half of these could be prevented. Case reviews and root cause analysis using a structured tool may help health care providers to learn from adverse events and to identify trends and recurring systems issues. We sought to establish the reliability of a root cause analysis computer application called Standardized Clinical Outcome Review (SCOR).

METHODS

We designed a mixed methods study to evaluate the effectiveness of the tool. We conducted qualitative content analysis of five charts reviewed by both the traditional obstetric quality assurance methods and the SCOR tool. We also determined inter-rater reliability by having four health care providers review the same five cases using the SCOR tool.

RESULTS

The comparative qualitative review revealed that the traditional quality assurance case review process used inconsistent language and made serious, personalized recommendations for those involved in the case. In contrast, the SCOR review provided a consistent format for recommendations, a list of action points, and highlighted systems issues. The mean percentage agreement between the four reviewers for the five cases was 75%. The different health care providers completed data entry and assessment of the case in a similar way. Missing data from the chart and poor wording of questions were identified as issues affecting percentage agreement.

CONCLUSION

The SCOR tool provides a standardized, objective, obstetric-specific tool for root cause analysis that may improve identification of risk factors and dissemination of action plans to prevent future events.

What is an Obstetrics/Gynecology Hospitalist?

The obstetrics/gynecology (OB/GYN) hospitalist is the latest subspecialist to evolve from obstetrics and gynecology. Starting in 2002, academic leaders recognized the impact of such coalescing forces as the pressure to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality, stagnant reimbursements and the increasing cost of private practice, the decrease in applications for OB/GYN residencies, and the demand among practicing OB/GYNs for work/life balance. Initially coined laborist, the concept of the OB/GYN hospitalist emerged. Thinking of becoming an OB/GYN hospitalist? Here is what you need to know.

Myths and realities of training in obstetric emergencies

Training for intrapartum emergencies is a promising strategy to reduce preventable harm during birth; however, not all training is clinically effective. Many myths have developed around such training. These principally derive from misinformed beliefs that all training must be effective, cheap, independent of context and sustainable. The current evidence base for effective training supports local, unit-based and multi-professional training, with appropriate mannequins, and practice-based tools to support the best care. Training programmes based on these principles are associated with improved clinical outcomes, but we need to understand how and why that is, and also why some training is associated with no improvements, or even deterioration in outcomes. Effective training is not cheap, but it can be cost-effective. Insurers have the fiscal power to incentivise training, but they should demand the evidence of clinical effect; aspiration and proxies alone should no longer be sufficient for funding, in any resource setting.

The role of insurers in maternity safety

Adverse events in maternity care are frequently avoidable and litigation costs for maternity care are rising for many health services across the world. Whilst families for whom this injury was preventable suffer from this tragedy, there is an enormous loss of resource to healthcare in general. It is axiomatic that preventing avoidable harm is better for women, their families and society in general, and downstream this improvement should also reduce both litigation and costs. However, there are few initiatives that have reduced adverse clinical events in maternity services and fewer still that have demonstrated decreases in litigation costs. Where these data do exist, the involvement and engagement of insurers seem to have been crucial, but often unrecognized. Insurers could play a much broader role in preventing harm, and this article explores this potential.

Toxicology in the Service of Patient and Medication Safety: a Selected Glance at Past and Present Innovations

Medical and medication errors remain definite threats to patients in US health care. Medical toxicologists frequently encounter patients either harmed by or at risk for harm from adverse drug events, including medication errors and inadvertent exposures. An historical perspective, as viewed through the lens of specific disciplines, can be useful to trace systemic responses to safety threats. Early efforts to address anesthesia perioperative risks and recent actions in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics to introduce checklists, communication tools, and systems approaches are reviewed. Patient safety concepts can be utilized and disseminated by toxicologists to improve medication safety and drive innovative approaches to confront patient harm. Various approaches include simulation of high-risk scenarios which might predispose to medication error, assembling multidisciplinary groups of health care providers to review events and implement mitigation strategies, and proactive patient safety rounds in clinical areas to allow frontline staff to voice concerns and introduce solutions for administration, evaluation, and implementation. We review selected lessons from the past and current innovations to achieve safe medication practice.

Improved obstetric safety through programmatic collaboration

Healthcare safety and quality are critically important issues in obstetrics, and society, healthcare providers, patients and insurers share a common goal of working toward safer practice, and are continuously seeking strategies to facilitate improvements. To this end, 4 New York City voluntary hospitals with large maternity services initiated a unique collaborative quality improvement program. It was facilitated by their common risk management advisors, FOJP Service Corporation, and their professional liability insurer, Hospitals Insurance Company. Under the guidance of 4 obstetrics and gynecology departmental chairmen, consensus best practices for obstetrics were developed which included: implementation of evidence based protocols with audit and feedback; standardized educational interventions; mandatory electronic fetal monitoring training; and enhanced in-house physician coverage. Each institution developed unique safety related expertise (development of electronic documentation, team training, and simulation education), and experiences were shared across the collaborative. The collaborative group developed robust systems for audit of outcomes and documentation quality, as well as enforcement mechanisms. Ongoing feedback to providers served as a key component of the intervention. The liability carrier provided financial support for these patient safety innovations. As a result of the interventions, the overall AOI for our institutions decreased 42% from baseline (January-June 2008) to the most recently reviewed time period (July-December 2011) (10.7% vs 6.2%, p < 0.001). The Weighted Adverse Outcome Score (WAOS) also decreased during the same time period (3.9 vs 2.3, p = 0.001.) Given the improved outcomes noted, our unique program and the process by which it was developed are described in the hopes that others will recognize collaborative partnering with or without insurers as an opportunity to improve obstetric patient safety.

Next Steps to Reduce Maternal Morbidity and Mortality in the USA

Maternal mortality is rising in the USA. The pregnancy-related maternal mortality ratio increased from 10/100,000 to 17/100,000 live births from the 1990s to 2012. A large proportion of maternal deaths are preventable. This review highlights a national approach to reduce maternal death and morbidity and discusses multiple efforts to reduce maternal morbidity, death and improve obstetric safety. These efforts include communication and collaboration between all stake holders involved in perinatal health, creation of national bundles addressing key maternal care areas such as hemorrhage management, call for all obstetric hospitals to review and analyze all cases of severe maternal morbidity, and access to contraception. Implementation of interventions based on these efforts is a national imperative to improve obstetric safety.

A comprehensive obstetric patient safety program reduces liability claims and payments

Begun in 2003, the Yale-New Haven Hospital comprehensive obstetric safety program consisted of measures to standardize care, improve teamwork and communication, and optimize oversight and quality review. Prior publications have demonstrated improvements in adverse outcomes and safety culture associated with this program. In this analysis, we aimed to assess the impact of this program on liability claims and payments at a single institution. We reviewed liability claims at a single, tertiary-care, teaching hospital for two 5-year periods (1998-2002 and 2003-2007), before and after implementing the safety program. Connecticut statute of limitations for professional malpractice is 36 months from injury. Claims/events were classified by event-year and payments were adjusted for inflation. We analyzed data for trends as well as differences between periods before and after implementation. Forty-four claims were filed during the 10-year study period. Annual cases per 1000 deliveries decreased significantly over the study period (P < .01). Claims (30 vs 14) and payments ($50.7 million vs $2.9 million) decreased in the 5-years after program inception. Compared with before program inception, median annual claims dropped from 1.31 to 0.64 (P = .02), and median annual payments per 1000 deliveries decreased from $1,141,638 to $63,470 (P < .01). Even estimating the monetary awards for the 2 remaining open cases using the median payments for the surrounding 5 years, a reduction in the median monetary amount per case resulting in payment to the claimant was also statistically significant ($632,262 vs $216,815, P = .046). In contrast, the Connecticut insurance market experienced a stable number of claims and markedly increased cost per claim during the same period. We conclude that an obstetric safety initiative can improve liability claims exposure and reduce liability payments.

Early and total neonatal mortality in relation to birth setting in the United States, 2006-2009

OBJECTIVE

We examined neonatal mortality in relation to birth settings and birth attendants in the United States from 2006 through 2009.

STUDY DESIGN

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-linked birth and infant death dataset in the United States from 2006 through 2009 were used to assess early and total neonatal mortality for singleton, vertex, and term births without congenital malformations delivered by midwives and physicians in the hospital and midwives and others out of the hospital. Deliveries by hospital midwives served as the reference.

RESULTS

Midwife home births had a significantly higher total neonatal mortality risk than deliveries by hospital midwives (1.26 per 1000 births; relative risk [RR], 3.87 vs 0.32 per 1000; P < .001). Midwife home births of 41 weeks or longer (1.84 per 1000; RR, 6.76 vs 0.27 per 1000; P < .001) and midwife home births of women with a first birth (2.19 per 1000; RR, 6.74 vs 0.33 per 1000; P < .001) had significantly higher risks of total neonatal mortality than deliveries by hospital midwives. In midwife home births, neonatal mortality for first births was twice that of subsequent births (2.19 vs 0.96 per 1000; P < .001). Similar results were observed for early neonatal mortality. The excess total neonatal mortality for midwife home births compared with midwife hospital births was 9.32 per 10,000 births, and the excess early neonatal mortality was 7.89 per 10,000 births.

CONCLUSION

Our study shows a significantly increased total and early neonatal mortality for home births and even higher risks for women of 41 weeks or longer and women having a first birth. These significantly increased risks of neonatal mortality in home births must be disclosed by all obstetric practitioners to all pregnant women who express an interest in such births.

Contributions of clinical disconnections and unresolved conflict to failures in intrapartum safety

OBJECTIVE

To explore clinician perspectives on whether they experience difficulty resolving patient-related concerns or observe problems with the performance or behavior of colleagues involved in intrapartum care.

DESIGN

Qualitative descriptive study of physician, nursing, and midwifery professional association members.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Participants (N = 1932) were drawn from the membership lists of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM), and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM).

METHODS

Email survey with multiple choice and free text responses. Descriptive statistics and inductive thematic analysis were used to characterize the data.

RESULTS

Forty-seven percent of participants reported experiencing situations in which patients were put at risk due to failure of team members to listen or respond to a concern. Thirty-seven percent reported unresolved concerns regarding another clinician's performance. The overarching theme was clinical disconnection, which included disconnections between clinicians about patient needs and plans of care and disconnections between clinicians and administration about the support required to provide safe and appropriate clinical care. Lack of responsiveness to concerns by colleagues and administration contributed to resignation and defeatism among participants who had experienced such situations.

CONCLUSION

Despite encouraging progress in developing cultures of safety in individual centers and systems, significant work is needed to improve collaboration and reverse historic normalization of both systemic disrespect and overt disruptive behaviors in intrapartum care.