Program Aims To Meet Challenges to Maternity Care
Saturday, February 12, 2011 03:55 AM
(The following is an opinion editorial article written and submitted by Rose Perrin, RN BSN PNCC, Perinatal Program Executive Lead, Northern Health)
Prince George, B.C. - Each year approximately 3500 women birth their babies in one of Northern Health’s 13 birthing units.
Public Health nursing, family physicians, obstetricians, midwives, acute care nurses, pediatricians, and nurse practitioners make up the front line of maternity service providers. Many other providers are also needed; laboratory, medical imaging, administration, dietary, social work, mental health & addictions, and community partnerships such as Pregnancy Outreach programs all come together to ensure women and their families across Northern Health are receiving the safest and most effective care possible.
Providing a safe and efficient maternity service in Northern Health is not simple, we are challenged by vast geography, rural and sometimes very remote communities and a human resource shortage. These challenges are not unique to Northern Health but a global reality. We partner with provincial and national researchers & evaluation experts so we can benefit from and contribute to safest and best maternity practices.
Beginning in 2006 Northern Health implemented the “Managing Obstetrical Risk Efficiently”, or MOREOB program. MOREOB is a comprehensive patient safety, professional development, and performance improvement program for caregivers and administrators in hospital birthing units. It is a program that has allowed NH to maintain OB services at sites where otherwise the provision of planned deliveries may have been suspended due to several factors, including clinicians comfort level in providing low-risk OB services in the absence of higher-level care back up.
One of the ways we measure our progress is by looking at perinatal outcomes… which in Northern Health compare and in many instances are better than provincial and national measures. MOREOB has also been credited with helping to recruit and retain care providers, and with stabilizing services in communities that fully participate in the program.
The B.C. Patient Safety & Quality Council selected Northern Health as a winner of the 2009 Excellence in Quality & Safety Award for our work in implementing MOREOB.
Northern Health is dedicated to providing safe, effective services to women and their families as they journey through their pregnancies and births.
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