Imagine an obstetrics patient with a rare, high-risk complication of pregnancy. The care team calls for a community physician, who is at another hospital in the middle of another high-risk delivery. Nurses must attend to the birth without the presence of a physician. While undoubtedly capable, they understand the risk to the patient without having a physician present that has the skill to manage the high-risk complications.
Now imagine a 24/7 presence of hospitalists on the labor and delivery floor supplements nursing staff and community physicians, and they all participate together in regular simulations and education on some of the most high-risk scenarios in the unit. Not only do teams now align and collaborate more easily, but they also advance the level of care they provide patients each day. This is the goal of TeamHealth’s nationwide OB/GYN skills and drills program – to provide proactive education and action plans to improve patient outcomes in emergent situations.
The Challenge
Maternal age continues to rise in the United States, from a mean age of 23 in 1994 to 26 in 2018. This steady increase in maternal age has resulted in increasingly complex births. As maternal and infant mortality also worsen, healthcare facilities must adapt to the changing obstetrical landscape.
Nurse-dependent models and reliance on community-based physicians often strain clinicians in an already fast-paced, high-risk department. Add to this the difficulty coordinating care for unassigned patients, whose medical history is unknown to the provider or may not have received any prenatal care, and the strain is more pronounced. For facilities with in-house emergent women’s care coverage, teams must collaboratively engage to ensure smooth, continuous care for patients – particularly unassigned patients with emergency needs.
With complexities mounting, labor and delivery units must engage in the latest evidence-based best practices.
Conclusions:
TeamHealth’s National Skills and Drills program is a proven driver of clinician engagement and patient care standards. With the accessible education we offer our teams, clinicians continuously receive the latest evidence-based best practices. These best practices translate to quality and safe care when teams face these high-risk scenarios on the labor and delivery floor.
Results:
- Advance clinical knowledge and skill and offer CE/CME credits
- Support nursing staff and leadership in high-risk scenarios
- Foster collaboration and enhance team culture
- Enhance care quality and patient safety standards
- Improve real-time operational efficiency
“Alleviated a Tremendous Stress”
A nurse educator shared feedback on the regular simulations her staff participates in, saying: “Staff loved the didactic portion and then the ability to apply the new skills learned on the simulated drill… The majority of our postpartum staff attended and they left with a better knowledge of the pathophysiology/etiology of the disease process. This has alleviated a tremendous stress, and they gained confidence in their practice.” The engagement fostered in these dynamic simulations improves care and enhances collaboration and team culture.
Download the full skills and drills white paper to learn more about our proven skills and drills program.