Notification of Obstetric Emergency

Abstract

Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program Emergency activation models relied on the nurse pressing the nurse call button and requesting help, vocally calling out for help, and then relying on a person to notify each team member needed in the response effort. This meant that other staff had to be able to hear and respond to a nurse's calls, and nonclinical personnel had to be available to relay medical information to physicians and other care team members. The response was unfocused and highly variable. Proposed Change To implement swift notification of team response in obstetric (OB) emergencies using a cap code pager team and smart panel technology already available in every patient room and operating rooms. Response buttons were built for massive transfusion protocol (MTP) team response, emergency cesarean delivery (ECD) team response, and stat anesthesia team response. The team members on the response teams will vary slightly, but the recurring members on the MTP and ECD team include emergency response nursing staff from the labor and delivery unit. These nurses will carry pagers and phones that will alert them to the location of the patient and type of code response. Notification to all the various medical team members will mirror the same process, pager, and phone notification. The most vital change involves a free OB emergency response nurse to support the bedside nurse and elevate the level of care needed. Implementation, Outcomes, and Evaluation Smart panel technology in all existing rooms with emergency notification buttons added to trigger mass page to all identified OB emergency team members. Development and testing of workflows with multiple simulations prior to roll out. There was decreased time spent notifying individual team members, decreased time moving from the labor and delivery room to the operating room, and decreased time from decision to incision. Opportunities to improve closed‐loop communication and role refinement exist. Implications for Nursing Practice The use of the smart panel technology will allow for the nurse to press a single button and notify all the specific care team members needed without having to leave the patient's room or cry out for help. The minutes once spent scrambling to find help will now be spent initiating lifesaving measuring for the patient and preparing for the next phase of care.