
Admission Screening for Postpartum Hemorrhage Risk Factors: A Quality Improvement Project
BACKGROUND: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal morbidity. Recognizing PPH risk factors is important to prevent its occurrence. METHODS: Using the Model for Healthcare Improvement, a screening tool for PPH risk factors was implemented for women admitted to labor and delivery at a small community hospital. During the pre-implementation and project implementation periods, chart audits measuring number of PPHs, blood transfusions, emergency hysterectomies, and transfers to higher levels of care were conducted on all deliveries. INTERVENTION: Utilizing the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) tool, nursing staff assessed patients for risk factors of PPH, assigned the patient a PPH risk level, and communicated the risk level during patient hand-offs. Evaluation methods included descriptive statistics on identified risk levels and quantitative and narrative feedback from nursing staff. RESULTS: Seven instances of PPH occurred during the three months prior to the project and six instances during the project implementation period. Only 20% of women had admission risk screenings completed, and none of these experienced a PPH or aforementioned complication. Of the women screened for PPH risk factors during the project, 46% were assessed as low risk, 42% as medium risk, and 12% as high risk. Feedback from staff indicated that the paper screening tool was easy to use and did increase staff awareness of a patient’s risk for PPH on the postpartum unit. CONCLUSION: As PPH screening will be a practice standard, the project site should determine how to make screening easy and effective for all staff members to implement.
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Work Title | Admission Screening for Postpartum Hemorrhage Risk Factors: A Quality Improvement Project |
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License | All rights reserved |
Work Type | Project |
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Publication Date | April 25, 2020 |
DOI | doi:10.26207/f6rw-pd24 |
Deposited | April 25, 2020 |
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