Management of Severe Range Blood Pressures During Obstetrical Care: A Quality Improvement Project [3L

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Timeliness of treatment improves maternal and neonatal outcomes. This study assesses the impact of implementing a program for severe range blood pressure (SRBP) management during inpatient obstetrical care. METHODS: We prospectively collected data from a single academic center during 2015-2016 comparing outcomes before and after a system change. The changes included 1) an algorithm to improve blood pressure (BP) recheck times (for validating SRBP) and time to intravenous medication when indicated; 2) improved medication access making all medications equally available; and 3) multidisciplinary training including simulation sessions. All patients with ICD-10 codes of pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders who had SRBP were evaluated over a three-month period before and after program implementation. SRBP treatment included intravenous labetalol or hydralazine or oral nifedipine. Primary endpoints compared time to BP recheck, time to medication when indicated and type of medication. RESULTS: More women had a BP recheck within one hour post-implementation (330/344, 95.9%) vs. pre-implementation (390/425, 91.7%) (P=.0025). A similar improvement occurred when evaluating BP recheck within 10 minutes (60.5% vs. 40.0%, respectively, P=.0001). For the 113 post-implementation and 89 pre-implementation SRBP events requiring treatment, time to medication did not improve (median 13 and 14 minutes, respectively, P=.40). Use of labetalol vs. hydralazine post-implementation increased from 13.3% to 38.1% (P=.0001); nifedipine was rarely used (1 and 3 patients, respectively). CONCLUSION: Implementation of an algorithm to treat SRBP can improve BP recheck rates and impact choice of intravenous medications.