The infant mortality rate in the United States, that is, children who die before the age of one, reached its highest rate in two decades in 2022, an increase of approximately 3 % to reach 5.6 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
At the same time, the country's neonatal mortality rate, infants who die in less than 28 days, increased by 3 percent, from 3.49 to 3.58, and the post-neonatal mortality rate, infants who die between 28 days and 11 months, by 4 percent. , from 1.95 to 2.02, depending on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Industry experts call this tendencies “concerning” and “disturbing,” leading to renewed industry-wide focus on how evidence-based perinatal research can improve care and clinical decision-making to reduce complications related to pregnancy and to carry out earlier interventions. In many cases, this starts with adopting the right tools.
Specifically, because obstetric care is a highly specialized, multidisciplinary field, it is essential that all clinicians on a patient's care team have quick and convenient access to the same patient data, such as prenatal history, laboratory tests and vital signs. The perinatal care environment presents the unique challenge of caring for two patients simultaneously: the mother and the unborn child. To improve delivery outcomes, simultaneous and accurate monitoring of both patients in real time is essential.
For example, if a clinician needs quick, instant information about a patient, whether it's a fetal strip or an electronic health record (EHR), the information needs to be consistent across the board. of the system and visible to all team members. In this regard, clinicians are seeking integrated technology to help support clinical workflows, promote adherence to evidence-based standards of care, and improve coordinated decision-making.
Challenges faced by obstetric caregivers
Although exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout and staff shortages have created challenges across all areas of health care for years, particularly affecting obstetric nurses. Although obstetrics can be a wonderful field, it is also often a stressful work environment. With COVID-era restrictions on visitors and caregivers such as doulas, the added burden typically fell on obstetrics nurses, who often went above and beyond during the pandemic.
Add to that the workforce shortage and existing staff are increasingly feeling stretched thin, compounding the physical and mental stress affecting many obstetric caregivers. Consider the emotional toll associated with the job, such as trying to help patients through complicated pregnancies and suffering the inevitable losses associated with increasing morbidity rates, and recent years have taken a heavy toll on workers in this discipline .
Nonetheless, many health systems have begun to use new and emerging technologies to offset the conditions created by staffing shortages and burnout. For example, integrated technologies can ease administrative burdens and reduce clinician burnout by improving the efficiency associated with onerous documentation processes, often a significant source of frustration for clinicians.
With more efficient automated documentation systems, clinicians can spend more time in front of patients, increasing engagement and improving outcomes. With more engaged patients, clinicians can have more productive and satisfying interactions with patients, thereby improving job satisfaction and improving health systems staff retention.
The clinical, financial and operational benefits of integrated technology
One of the key benefits of integrated technology, which provides all members of the healthcare team with the same holistic view of each patient, is the ability for clinicians to monitor a population of patients, such as women in labor, to reduce adverse events. In addition to tools such as centralized fetal monitoring, patient EHR data can be integrated into a dashboard that allows clinicians to monitor multiple patients simultaneously. Automated algorithms can integrate data from maternal early warning scores into the dashboard and analyze a wealth of patient data, such as labs, vital signs and patient assessments, to identify deterioration potential and alert staff, thus allowing earlier intervention.
Additionally, clinicians can explore specific patient details, including the fetal band, allowing patients to be assessed in a single view. Allowing clinicians to also access these tools on mobile devices expands the scope of integration and supports even more members of the care team. When clinical teams have the data they need, patients receive the most appropriate care and achieve better outcomes.
Integrated data and technology also supports ongoing quality improvement initiatives that are important to clinicians, allowing them to continually review care delivery and outcomes to evaluate best practices. For example, data can be identified to support automated scoring and algorithms to assess risk, care protocols, etc. These insights can be quickly implemented to support the evolution of best practices, improved care protocols that prevent poor outcomes, and strengthened value-based care delivery, leading to an improved patient experience.
In addition to clinical benefits, integrated technology provides benefits when applied to routine financial and administrative processes. For example, with data such as patient demographics, insurance, and clinical documentation readily available, providers can improve the accuracy and efficiency of coding, billing, and reimbursement. Additionally, access to integrated data allows providers to offer more transparency to patients regarding insurance coverage and out-of-pocket costs, improving patient satisfaction by setting appropriate expectations.
With most key national maternity statistics trending downward, now is a crucial time to invest in midwifery care. With integrated technology that provides a consistent, holistic view of each patient, clinicians can alleviate staff burnout while improving patient outcomes as well as financial and operational performance.
Whitney weigh-in is an executive nurse.