Joint commission decries high maternal death rate

[caryn]

This includes educating doctors about conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity. These can put women at risk if they become pregnant, and affected women should get specialized prenatal care.

The group requires hospitals to have a process for recognizing and responding quickly when a patient's condition worsens.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-maternaldeaths,0,1339613.story

The [url="http://www.jointcommission.org/SentinelEvents/SentinelEventAlert/sea_44.htm"]Joint Commission's report[/url] says:
According to the HCA study, the most common preventable errors are:
Failure to adequately control blood pressure in hypertensive women,
Failure to adequately diagnose and treat pulmonary edema in women with pre-eclampsia...

Information provided on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disorder, or prescribing any medication. The Preeclampsia Foundation presents all data as is, without any warranty of any kind, express or implied, and is not liable for its accuracy, for mistakes or omissions of any kind, nor for any loss or damage caused by a user's reliance on information obtained on the site. Professional opinions on this condition vary greatly. The Preeclampsia Foundation endorses no one course of treatment or "cure".

[rebeccac]

I was extremely fortunate to have a maternal high risk clinic at the hospital where DS was born. I had appointments every 2 weeks during my pregnancy to keep mt diabetes in check and to monitor baby's progress. I met with a certified diabetes educator/RN, my OB and a dietician all in one visit-each visit was 3 hours long. It was at one of my appointments that I was admitted on bed rest and then delivered 3 days later. Our lives were saved because of this.

Two years later, the hospital cut the clinic out of their budget. It makes me mad/sad that women like myself will have to spend extra time going to appointments at different locations or worse yet, not going to appointments because it is too much running around.

[ladybug76135]

While I am glad that someone is paying attention to this issue, I do not feel like their efforts will make a huge difference. I am on the team that has to respond to this Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert and it only applies to hospitals. It does nothing about the vast majority of the women who are misdiagnosed out of their doctor's offices (which are not Joint Commisssion Accredited). It will set expectations for inpatient facilities with OB units and ERs that see OB patients. There really needs to be pressure from other regulatory bodies and/or insurance companies on doctor's offices.

Just my $0.02.

[jmom08]

Robyn, that is scary. Tell me where to write letters, and I will write them! :)

[misscoleyp]

Robyn, You are in DFW? So am I and Emily too. We would love to see you at this years Promise Walk!!!

[caryn]

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/moms-risk-10014105&tab=9482931§ion=1206835&playlist=1363742&page=1

Oooooh, this is annoying.

No mention of the two most common errors leading to maternal death that were found by the Joint Commission's report.

No mention of hypertensive pregnancy.

A "helpful tip" to avoid inductions to lower your risk, omg, even though they *lower* the incidence of severe maternal morbidity in hypertensive pregnancies.