McLaren Northern Michigan is proud to have received Gold Designation through the Michigan Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (MI AIM). The Gold Designation is a commitment to improving the quality of care for moms.
“It is an alarming statistic to hear, but the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any high resource country,” stated Sarah Shepard, MSN-NED, RN, Women and Children’s Clinical Nurse Educator at McLaren Northern Michigan. “Here at McLaren Northern Michigan, we have always had practices in place to identify maternal health risks. With our work and collaboration with MI AIM, we are improving our already high standard of patient safety.”
Protocols that have been improved or added include identifying hemorrhage risks, severe hypertension, opioid use disorders, and the need for continued postpartum care and safety for the mothers. There are quarterly trainings with the physicians and nurses that simulate risk and test the protocols put in place. “The high-risk patients are not common, however, we need to always be aware that a patient can present at any time with risk,” stated Shepherd. “Having these protocols in place and consistent training will continue our patient safety goals.”