Tarrant County hospitals implement new program to address high maternal, infant mortality rate
TARRANT COUNTY — Seven hospitals in Tarrant County are the first in Texas to adopt a program meant to improve the health outcomes for moms and babies.
It's part of an initiative to reverse an alarming statistic: mothers in Tarrant County are dying at a significantly higher rate than the national average, according to state data.
At the end of Jan., John Peter Smith Hospital became the first hospital in Texas to adopt TeamBirth, a protocol designed to improve communication through labor, delivery and postpartum.
"There's a lot of things going on in labor," said Pam Gessling, the executive director for Nursing and Woman & Infant Services at JPS Hospital. "There's a lot of things that are emergent that we just tell patients, 'We're going to do this, this, then this,' and they don't really understand why things happened."
The cornerstone of this new program is a "huddle," which brings together doctors and nurses with the patient and their loved ones to discuss the birthing plan.
"We will hear things like, 'I didn't understand what happened to me,' 'I didn't feel like I was heard,' 'I feel like my questions were not answered,'" said Dr. Stephanie Carson-Henderson, chair of Women & Infants at John Peter Smith Hospital and JPS Health Network. "And so, we know that in having these huddles and having patients participate in their care, we're really hoping to change that patient experience."
The bedside conversation may not look life-changing, but it could make deliveries safer for moms and babies.
"It was intended to address the outcomes that we were having in Tarrant County with, higher than average maternal morbidity, mortality, as well as infant mortality as well," said Carson-Henderson.
The risks are even higher for people of color. State data shows Tarrant County has the second-highest maternal mortality rate among Black women in the state.
According to United Way of Tarrant County, 12% of pregnancy-related deaths are related to discrimination and 90% have some chance of being preventable.
"It's a scary time for women, and they feel very vulnerable," Gessling said. "And this is a time where we need to empower them and help them realize that they have a choice and they have a voice."
They believe giving the patient a say in the process will not only improve the birthing experience but also the long-term health outcomes for mom and baby.
The huddle helps the medical staff as well. TeamBirth researchers say failures in communication and teamwork among clinical teams play a role in 80 to 90% of cases of patient harm.
More than 100 hospitals across the United States have already adopted TeamBirth.
After JPS Hospital launched the program, Baylor Scott & White and Texas Health began to implement TeamBirth at some of their facilities in Tarrant County as well.
"Healthy moms will create healthy families and that will lead to healthy communities," Carson-Henderson said.
As part of Tarrant County's initiative to improve maternal and infant health, the United Way of Tarrant County has also recently trained 120 community doulas, who support and advocate for women during pregnancy and delivery at no cost to them.
Studies show the presence of a doula reduces premature delivery, c-section frequency, and low birth weights.
