Survey Of Nurses Finds Lack Of Knowledge About Maternal Mortality
buy canada goose jacket In recent months, mothers who nearly died in the hours and days after giving birth have repeatedly told ProPublica and NPR that their doctors and nurses were often slow to recognize the warning signs that their bodies weren’t healing properly. buy canada goose jacket
canada goose uk outlet A study published Tuesday in MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing substantiates some of those concerns. every year from pregnancy and childbirth related causes. Another 65,000 nearly die, according to buy canada goose uk the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rates are highest among black mothers and women in rural areas. A recent CDC Foundation analysis of data from four states found that close canada goose outlet uk fake to 60 percent of maternal deaths were preventable. in recent years, and 19 percent thought maternal deaths canada goose jacket outlet toronto had actually declined. canada goose uk outlet
Only 12 percent of the respondents knew that the majority of maternal deaths occur in the days and weeks after delivery.
canada goose factory sale Nurses also said they spent very little time usually 10 minutes or less instructing new moms about warning signs of potential complications. Many of the nurses said they canada goose stockists uk were only likely to discuss such life threatening conditions as pre eclampsia (pregnancy related high blood pressure), blood clots in the lungs or heart problems “if relevant,” though it was unclear what that meant. As the study noted, “it is impossible to accurately predict which women will suffer from a post birth complication.” canada goose factory sale
canada goose coats on sale The post canada goose outlet store toronto delivery education provided by nurses is particularly important because once a mother leaves the hospital, she typically doesn’t see her own doctor for four to six weeks. Up to 40 percent canadagooseparkaclearances.com of new moms, overwhelmed with caring for an infant and often lacking in maternity leave, child care, transportation and other kinds of support, never go back for their follow up appointments. canada goose coats on sale
Figuring out the best way to instruct new mothers is all the more crucial, the survey noted, because the first days after giving birth are “exhausting, emotionally charged and physiologically draining” hardly an ideal learning environment. But like so many other important aspects of maternal health care, postpartum education has been poorly studied, Bingham says.
The respondents, of canada goose outlet locations in toronto whom nearly one third canada goose outlet online store review had master’s or doctoral degrees, were members of the Association of Women’s, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, the leading professional organization for nurses specializing in maternal and infant care. The association began looking at the education issue in 2014, when Bingham was the association’s vice president of nursing research and education. “We had to start really from the ground up, because we didn’t know exactly what women were being taught,” she says. Moms In Danger
canada goose store canada goose outlet In focus groups conducted in New Jersey and Georgia, two states with especially high rates of maternal mortality, researchers discovered that postpartum nurses spent most of their time educating moms about how to care for their new babies, not themselves. The information mothers did receive about their own health risks was wildly inconsistent and sometimes incorrect, Bingham says. The written materials women took home often weren’t much better. canada goose store
uk canada goose outlet Some nurses were uncomfortable discussing the possibility that complications could be life threatening. “We had some nurses come out and say, ‘Well you know what, I don’t want to scare the canada goose vest outlet woman. This is supposed to be a happy time. I don’t want to seem like all I want to talk about is death,’ ” Bingham says. uk canada goose outlet
But the researchers also found that nurses could be quickly educated with short, targeted information. Using insights from the focus groups, an expert panel developed two standardized tools: a checklist and script that nurses could follow when instructing new mothers and a one page handout of post birth warning signs that mothers could refer to after they returned home, with clear cut instructions for when to see a doctor or call 911.
buy canada goose jacket cheap Those tools were tested in four hospitals in 2015. “Very quickly, we started hearing from the nurses that women were coming back to the hospital with the handout, saying, ‘I have this symptom,’ ” Bingham says. buy canada goose jacket cheap
canada goose clearance One of them was a Georgia mom named Sarah Duckett, who had just given birth to her second child. A week later, she recognized the warning signs of what turned out to be a blood clot in her lung, a postpartum complication that can be fatal. “Those were anecdotes, but they were very powerful anecdotes,” Bingham says. “I’ve led multiple projects over the years, and rarely do I get such immediate feedback that something is working.” canada goose clearance
Canada Goose Coats On Sale The shortcomings documented by the canada goose outlet in toronto national survey could foster wider use of these tools, suggests Mary Ann Etiebet, executive director of Merck for Mothers, which funded the study as part of a 10 year, $500 million initiative to improve maternal health around the world. “Something as simple as creating educational and training programs for nurses. can have a real impact,” she says Canada Goose Coats On Sale.