Lora Sparkman, MHA, RN, BSN

Despite the prevalence and devastating impact of maternal mental health matters, they are often overlooked, underdiagnosed, and undertreated.

A new CMS rule included new equity measures, updated policies, and increased payments and the Birthing-Friendly hospital designation.

Read about our peer-reviewed journal article on the results of our peripartum depression study of acute and behavioral health caregivers.

With sepsis-related maternal mortality on the rise, healthcare leaders are pressed to improve education and training for labor and delivery teams.

Compared to vaginal birth, C-sections result in higher instances of maternal mortality, longer hospital stays, and excessive bleeding. Despite these risks, C-sections have continued to increase in popularity among patients — even when the procedure isn’t medically necessary.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ new action plan aims to make maternal mortality a “never event.” Here are key takeaways for stakeholders to consider.

Pregnancy-related deaths continue to rise across the U.S. Reducing this requires a holistic, evidence-based approach to maternal healthcare. Find out some of the steps you can take.

Several primary and secondary shoulder dystocia maneuvers help nurses facilitate safe deliveries for mothers and children.

Predicting and preventing shoulder dystocia during labor is extremely difficult, but proactive risk management and thorough documentation can help protect mothers and practitioners.

Every May, the healthcare industry recognizes the nation’s maternal mortality crisis, specifically related to preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome and related hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Despite being largely preventable and most often treatable, obstetric hemorrhage is still recognized as the most common serious complication of childbirth in the U.S. This blog looks at what is being done to change this.

As obstetrics claims continue to be prevalent across the nation, understanding the basic tenets of a high reliability unit is paramount to affect positive change. Here are four tools to help you along your journey.

To truly impact patient safety through large-scale change, physician support and adoption is usually a good place to start.

Highlights from our Q&A session titled, “July 2020 New Joint Commission Maternal Safety Standards: How Prepared Are You?.”

Effective July 2020, Joint Commission-accredited hospitals must prove they meet new requirements for quality of care in maternal health. Are you prepared?

High reliability is the foundational core tenet of healthcare from the Hippocratic Oath to nearly every hospitals’ mission statement in one phrase or another.

To identify opportunities in clinical variation, organizations can work towards taking these 3 simple steps to reduce clinical variation.

In any organization, risk management is necessary—however, risk management within the healthcare industry takes on a whole new meaning.

The U.S. has the highest maternal death rate (and rising) among the world’s developed nations, while the death rate has been stable or falling in other developed countries.

Currently, the U.S. ranks 47th out of 183 countries in maternal mortality. These are seven steps your hospital can practice beginning today to reduce complications of obstetrical hemorrhage.

For organizations like the National Patient Safety Foundation, improving the quality of patient care is top of mind every day.