Hospital and Health System

Leading Hospitals, Healthcare Experts Collaborate to Eliminate Preventable Birth Injuries

The Premier healthcare alliance announced a 21-month national collaborative designed to achieve the consistent delivery of evidence-based care with the goal of eliminating preventable birth-related injuries and deaths.

The Premier Perinatal Safety Initiative is comprised of 16 of the country's leading hospitals, representing 12 states, in which approximately 115,000 babies will be delivered over the course of the collaborative. The initiative seeks to significantly lower the incidence of certain infrequent though serious injuries that could result in birth asphyxia or permanent neurologic disability.

“Infants in the United States experience close to three birth injuries for every 1,000 births, many of which are preventable, and the U.S. ranks near the bottom of industrialized nations in infant mortality,” said Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., co-founder and co-chair, Congressional Caucus on Infant Health and Safety. “We are hopeful that this study will help identify best practices and help share them across all hospitals so as to reduce harm to infants and mothers.”

Currently, five recurring clinical issues are commonly cited as being responsible for the majority of perinatal harm and associated costs and obstetrical professional liability: failure to recognize an infant in distress; failure to initiate a timely cesarean birth; failure to properly resuscitate a depressed baby; inappropriate use of labor-inducing drugs; and inappropriate use of vacuum or forceps.

Through the use of “care bundles,” which are groups of evidence-based interventions that are more effective when implemented together rather than individually, participants work towards the reduction of perinatal injuries.

“Many of the processes addressed in this project can lead to significant, lifelong injury to newborns, along with immense emotional trauma to families and healthcare team members,” said Susan DeVore, chief operating officer at Premier. “Consistent, reliable delivery of the care bundles has proven to decrease the incidence of these injuries. They follow published best practices and national standards established by expert clinical organizations and are audited by participants to ensure implementation in an ‘all-or-none’ fashion, unless a medical condition suggests otherwise.”

Project participants will work together to enhance sharing of information and best practices, all the while documenting cost and quality impact consistently and reliably to assess opportunities for improvement. Initiative results and feedback will be offered in a transparent manner so outcomes can be shared nationwide to help transform healthcare.

Perinatal team members at participating hospitals will conduct simulations for certain high risk protocols so that they are prepared to take appropriate action during worst case scenarios. Data from participants will be collected and results measured against benchmarks from similar hospitals. Customized harm measures were developed, and will be analyzed through the assistance of the National Perinatal Information Center.

Source: Premier, Inc., May 14, 2008