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Posted June 15, 2006
Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare: e-News
Reducing Maternal Death Rate
A New York Hospital Queens study, Improving Hospital Systems for the Care of Women With Major Obstetric Hemorrhage, showed a reduced maternal mortality from hemorrhage. Despite a significant increase in major obstetric hemorrhage cases due to an increase in cesarean deliveries and repeat cesarean deliveries, New York Hospital Queens has improved outcomes and eliminated maternal deaths after implementing a systematic approach to improve patient safety. The hospital achieved this result by creating a system designed to gather an emergency response team, called Team Blue, immediately at the bedside when a mother or baby is at risk, and time is of the essence.
Obstetric hemorrhage, otherwise known as excessive bleeding from giving birth, can occur as a result of various complications related to the placenta or acidity of the blood. For any well-established high-risk pregnancy program, obstetric hemorrhage cases are not unusual. New York Hospital Queens created the system to treat patients rapidly to reduce chances of adverse outcomes from this potential complication. There were significant increases in cases of major obstetric hemorrhage between the periods of 2000-2001 (the control period) and 2002-2005 (the investigational period). There was a significant improvement in mortality due to hemorrhage when comparing 2000- 2001 with 2002-2005. There were no differences in measures of severity of obstetric hemorrhage between the two periods
Team Blue includes professionals from multiple departments, including anesthesiology, neonatology, nursing, the blood bank, maternal-fetal medicine, administration, trauma team and the operating room staff. Team Blue has been modeled after the hospital's successful trauma team.
The results of this study and the process improvement earned the 2005 New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System Quality Award. This award was established to recognize a member institution that most embodies the commitment of the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System to enhancing quality of care.
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