In the 1990’s West Virginia had 40 birthing facilities, however, in 2023 only 20 continue to be in operation. With this decrease in facilities, access to obstetrical providers is severely limited in many of our most rural areas.
Following delivery, many women return to communities that are an hour or more drive from the nearest obstetrical provider. When they experience postpartum complications, many will arrive at the local emergency department or urgent care center. Unfortunately, these locations are often not primed to think of the postpartum period as requiring additional assessment, rapid diagnosis, and interventions specific to the care of pregnant or postpartum women.
This training includes an overview of obstetrical complications, their diagnosis, treatment protocols and ACOG recommendations for the entire emergency department team, local EMT units and hospital support staff. A hands-on simulation portion of the training allows for practice in emergency delivery, discussion of managing hypertension and obstetrical hemorrhage.
Since triaging postpartum women to have a high priority is one key element to improving rapid recognition of dangerous complications, materials to continue awareness of obstetrical issues are provided to the ED’s. Posters, protocols and resources, such as phone numbers of the MFM and obstetricians for consults are included.