Takeaways from today’s maternal mortality review in Mississippi
1. All mothers should have a postpartum visit at 2-3 weeks as per @acog. Within 1 week with hypertension or other serious dx. Several deaths occurred at week 4-5, before 1st scheduled follow up.
1. All mothers should have a postpartum visit at 2-3 weeks as per @acog. Within 1 week with hypertension or other serious dx. Several deaths occurred at week 4-5, before 1st scheduled follow up.
2. Suspect peripartum cardiomyopathy w/ cough, ⬇️appetite, fatigue, SOB, orthopnea, in the weeks to months postpartum. Get an echo or at least a CXR. Be highly suspicious of new albuterol Rx in a new mother without asthma..
3. Emergency departments -screen for pregnancy and postpartum status know elevated risks of stroke, cvd. and listen to mothers. Several mothers were told “you are too young for...” before dying of that very thing.
4. If a pregnant /postpartum mother is worried for their life, be worried for their life too.
5. Expand Medicaid. At least extend it to 12 months postpartum. 6 weeks of postpartum insurance is inadequate. These are just the facts. @MSMedicaid
6. Maternal cardiac arrests & codes are infrequent catastrophic events. Multidisciplinary drills/ simulations are 💯% necessary. @PtSafetyCouncil #AIM @aafp ALSO @MSPQC have resources to help with all of the above.
7. Family interviews are indispensable to understand why and how mothers die and how we can do better. Medical records rarely capture the mother’s voice, humanity, experiences with racism, stigma, trauma and broken healthcare. Surviving families need to be heard and given support
We haven’t touched the transformative changes we really need like rooting out racism, supporting Black doulas and midwifery, decriminalizing addiction, paid maternity leave.
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