Improving Perinatal Safety with Relias OB

The Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies is supported by Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation.

The Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies in Orlando, FL is the only hospital in Central Florida built for women to benefit women. With women’s health at its core, and as part of the Orlando Health network, the hospital is home to leading physicians, surgeons, and specialists, and maintains the country’s fourth largest neonatal intensive care units. In fact, Winnie Palmer Hospital (WPH) serves as a Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Center for the State of Florida, whereby high-risk obstetrical (OB) patients and their infants are referred to Winnie Palmer Hospital specialists. Care at WPH covers all aspects of women’s health, from comprehensive gynecological services and minimally invasive surgeries to obstetrics and high risk pregnancies and births. One of the most experienced Labor & Delivery sites in the nation, the hospital delivers 12,000–14,000 babies each year.

A Focus on Patient Safety

Winnie Palmer Hospital has maintained standards of quality that set it apart as a center of excellence for women’s care. In 2011, Louis Stern, MD, Chair of Obstetrics, formed the OB Quality Committee, dedicated to evaluating and consistently improving the quality of obstetrical care. Knowing that communication among caregivers and accurate Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM) interpretation are essential to achieving quality outcomes, as well as having a growing residency program, the Obstetrics leadership at WPH sought to put new standards in place—particularly one around communication, to ensure nurses and physicians managed to a shared vision of care, and another to create consistency in EFM training and interpretation. After surveying potential partners in this perinatal safety initiative, WPH selected Relias, impressed with the scope of the clinical content and the ability for clinicians to receive CME/CE credit.

Committed to Continuous Quality Improvement

Just two months after implementing Relias services, spanning communication, EFM, shoulder dystocia, and postpartum hemorrhage, Winnie Palmer Hospital solidified its commitment to quality with a vote by the Department of OB/GYN to have a hospital-wide mandate for physicians and nurses to complete required content. In a timely parallel move, Women’s Care Florida (WCF) also mandated physician and nurse completion of required content, furthering focus on perinatal quality in the Central Florida region.

In addition to maintaining a culture focused on quality, as evidenced by a 100% compliance rate, Winnie Palmer Hospital has significantly reduced high-risk OB procedures that carry a number of risks for both mothers and babies.