Introduction:
Postpartum hemorrhage is a leading
cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States and in the world. Rapid recognition and treatment are necessary
to prevent progression of hemorrhage as women can lose large volumes of blood
very quickly due to the physiologic changes of pregnancy. While obstetric hemorrhage is a low-volume
but high-risk event for any birth facility, lack of advanced planning can
result in the lack of rapid, coordinated responses which could be the
contributing factor in deaths from maternal hemorrhage. It has been proven that birth facilities who
have implemented systematic protocols for recognizing and responding to
hemorrhage have demonstrated improved outcomes such as decreased use of both
blood products and higher level interventions such as uterine artery
embolization and hysterectomy. Adopting
protocols and educating all levels of staff with those protocols will assist in
the early recognition and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage with the end goal
to improve maternal morbidity and mortality.
References:
- Improving Health
Care Response to Obstetric Hemorrhage Version 2.0 A California Quality
Improvement Toolkit. March 24, 2015
- Council on Patient Safety in Women’s Health
Care Patient Safety Bundles and Tools
