Obstetric hemorrhage is one of the leading causes of severe maternal morbidity and mortality in California. The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review has repeatedly identified hemorrhage as one of the causes of potentially preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, a life-threatening complication during pregnancy. CMQCC has been working with hospitals to standardize care and improve their readiness, recognition, response and reporting of obstetric hemorrhage. To help healthcare providers implement the latest evidence and best practices, CMQCC recently completed its second revision of the Improving Health Care Response to Obstetric Hemorrhage Toolkit.
The toolkit is available to download in the “Resources” section of our website:
Improving Health Care Response to Obstetric Hemorrhage Toolkit, Version 3.0
In addition to our toolkit, CMQCC has launched statewide outreach collaboratives focused on implementation of patient safety bundles for hemorrhage. Severe maternal morbidity among women with hemorrhage was reduced by 20.8% between 2014 – 2016 among hospitals participating in the California Partnership for Maternal Safety (CPMS) collaborative, compared with only a 1.2 percent reduction for nonparticipating hospitals. Hospitals that had also participated in previous CMQCC hemorrhage collaboratives reported an even larger reduction in SMM – 28.6%.