ENID, OK - Research indicates that failures in communication between providers and the patients they care for account for up to 90 percent of preventable injuries during childbirth.
INTEGRIS Bass Baptist Health Center recently launched TeamBirth, a new initiative to enhance the birthing experience and improve outcomes for women giving birth and their babies. TeamBirth is a communication and teamwork process that can close gaps in communication.
“At INTEGRIS Bass Baptist Health Center, we want all birthing individuals and their support team to know their preferences for their birth experience are important to us by actively including them in decision making and the plan of care,” Denese Campbell, labor and delivery nurse manager, said. “We want all members of the team, including the patient and their support person(s) to feel empowered to speak up with questions or concerns.”
Campbell further explained, “We feel we already do a great job of this; however, TeamBirth offers formal tools to conceptualize a shared decision model to strengthen communication on all fronts.”
A central component of the TeamBirth model is a shared whiteboard located in all labor and delivery rooms to outline care plans and progress for the patient and the baby that serves as an ongoing shared reference for the team.
TeamBirth was developed by Ariadne Labs, which is a joint center for health systems innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. TeamBirth was designed around best practices in communication, teamwork and clinical care.
The TeamBirth model is now offered at several INTEGRIS Health hospitals across the state, including INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center, INTEGRIS Health Edmond, INTEGRIS Health Canadian Valley Hospital in Yukon and INTEGRIS Health Miami Hospital.
