Cleveland Clinic Implements New Labor and Delivery Model
On March 21, Akron, Ohio-based Cleveland Clinic Akron General announced via a news release that it has recently implemented a new model of care designed to improve outcomes for pregnant patients by focusing on communication and teamwork to improve safety and quality of care.
The news release states that “A major part of the new model, called TeamBirth, involves all members of the care team having ‘huddles’ with patients at regular intervals so that everyone understands their current condition and birth preferences.”
Further “Akron General is one of only four hospitals in the United States to pilot TeamBirth as part of the first wave of the March of Dimes and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Maternal HealthCARE initiative. This initiative works to improve maternal health outcomes and advance equity in labor and delivery.”
TeamBirth uses planning boards in labor and delivery rooms that list the caregivers on the patient’s team. The boards detail the patient’s birth preference, care plans, and progress for the patient and the infant. The care team meets with the individual giving birth, as well as their support person, to stay on the same page.
Akron General has been using the new model since October and data are being collected to see how the program impacts birth outcomes and patient/caregiver experience. Anecdotal patient feedback, according to the release, says that patients are appreciating the model thus far.
“TeamBirth was developed by Ariadne Labs as an evidence-based approach to labor and delivery,” the release adds. “Hospitals participating in the Maternal HealthCARE initiative implement improvement measures focused on best practices for patient-centered, respectful and anti-racist care for all, stratifying data by race and ethnicity to create data transparency. Participating hospitals address racial inequities and the disparity gap in outcomes for pregnant Black patients through implementation of expert-recommended key activities, including maternity specific implicit bias training, stratification and analysis of outcomes by race and ethnicity, formation of an anti-racism work group and adoption of the TeamBirth model of care.”
Jennifer Savitski, M.D., chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Akron General was quoted in the release saying that “Pregnant people in the U.S. are experiencing severe complications and dying at higher rates than any other industrialized country and if you are a pregnant Black person, your rates are even higher. The goal of TeamBirth is to address those unacceptable outcomes, to put the patient and their preferences at the center of their birthing experience and to root out the implicit and explicit biases that create inequity in maternal healthcare.”
