Overview
The women of West Virginia and their babies deserve excellence in care that produces safe and healthy outcomes during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. The Perinatal Partnership works with all healthcare professionals, state agencies and multiple organizations to promote the use of evidence based care, education for all team members, and developing the tools to review and improve processes and outcomes.
The WVPP, in collaboration with the Office of Maternal Child and Family Health, participates in the state Maternal and Infant Morbidity and Mortality Review Panels with members assisting with case reviews and panel recommendations as well as supporting the work of the WV Academy of Pediatrics in efforts to improve infant and neonatal outcomes.
Our Approach
We believe evidence-based initiatives are the key to improving maternal and infant health outcomes.
The West Virginia Perinatal Partnership supports and/or leads the following collaborative projects:
The Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health (AIM) Patient Safety Initiatives
WV has been an AIM state since 2018, actively implementing patient safety bundles on Obstetric Hemorrhage, Severe Hypertension in Pregnancy and Perinatal Mental Health Conditions. Under the guidance of the WV AIM Task Force and the support of the WVPP West Virginia has maintained a severe maternal morbidity rate of 1% or less since 2018.
For more information on the specific AIM work and bundle implementations, click here.
Infant Mortality
Infant mortality in 2022 in West Virginia was 7.3 deaths per 1000 births for a total of 124 infant deaths. This is 14% higher than the national rate of 5.5 per 1000 births. Twenty six of the deaths reviewed by the state Infant Mortality Review Panel were related to sleep or the sleep environment. Prematurity and congenital anomalies were the second and third leading causes of death after those identified as unknown.
High infant mortality is a complex problem in West Virginia that the WV Perinatal Partnership is working to address. In collaboration with our state Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Panel, WVPP coordinates programs that seek to decrease some of the causes of infant mortality including:
- Decreasing substance exposure and neonatal abstinence syndrome through the Drug Free Moms And Babies Initiative
- Decreasing maternal smoking with Baby and Me Tobacco Free
- Increasing access to maternal care in rural areas with the WV RMOMS project.
Infectious Diseases
West Virginia has experienced a rise in Hepatitis C and other sexually transmitted infections in the last several years. The rate of maternal Hepatitis C is 30 per 1000 compared to a national rate of 4 per 1000; congenital syphilis cases reported to West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources increased 650% from 2017 to 2021. The West Virginia Perinatal Partnership is committed to working with the state to develop an effective response to address this problem.
Physician leadership from the Partnership’s Substance Use During Pregnancy Committee recommended that community-based pediatric providers be notified when a baby in their care was born to a woman diagnosed with Hepatitis C through Project WATCH. This policy was adopted and went into effect in 2020. In addition, Partnership staff sit on statewide groups such as the Hepatitis Elimination Technical Advisory Group and the West Virginia Syphilis, Hepatitis, and HIV Infant Mortality and Morbidity Review.
Congenital Syphilis
In 2023 West Virginia reported 17 cases of congenital syphilis, up from only 2 in 2017. This dramatic rise has increased the risk of harm to infants and their mothers and requires a statewide approach to this problem. WVPP members participate in the statewide syphilis review program and have included awareness of this issue to presentations on obstetrical complications.
For more information on syphilis in WV, including congenital syphilis, click here.
Outreach Education on OB Simulations
The WVPP has worked for several years on improving the response the obstetrical complications in the acute care setting by providing OB Simulation Training and guidance. Training in OB Simulation has included “Train the Trainer” programs where each delivery hospital received a low fidelity simulation model “Mama Natalee”. Recent trainings have included the use of the OB simulator in hospital settings to practice emergency delivery, eclampsia and obstetrical hemorrhage. These trainings have been provided free to delivering hospitals and are open to their staff as well as emergency responders in the area.
To read more about this program, click here.
Obstetrical Complications in the ED
Obstetrical Complications in the ED is a didactic and hands on educational opportunity that has been presented in hospital facilities lacking obstetrical services. This focus on obstetrical emergencies that occur outside of the acute care or obstetrical setting provide a didactic review of hemorrhage, hypertension, infection, cardiovascular events and perinatal mental health.The WVPP has worked for several years on improving the response the obstetrical complications in the acute care setting by providing OB Simulation Training and guidance. Training in OB Simulation has included “Train the Trainer” programs where each delivery hospital received a low fidelity simulation model “Mama Natalee”. Recent trainings have included the use of the OB simulator in hospital settings to practice emergency delivery, eclampsia and obstetrical hemorrhage. These trainings have been provided free to delivering hospitals and are open to their staff as well as emergency responders in the area.
To read more about this program, click here.
Preterm Birth
Preterm birth rates in West Virginia are a significant concern for the Partnership as they continue to rise and are consistently higher than the national average. We are actively addressing this issue through two primary projects. The first project “Born at the Right Place” addresses infants being born in a facility that meets their minimum level of care as defined by the Guidelines for Perinatal Care. By focusing on very birth weight (VLBW) babies who are born in non-tertiary care hospitals this project aims to improve the care and outcomes for these vulnerable infants by ensuring they receive appropriate and timely medical attention including transport of mother and/or infant.
The second project targets late preterm births, aiming to reduce the incidence and associated complications by implementing evidence-based interventions and enhancing prenatal care. Rising late preterm birth rates are driving the overall rise in preterm birth rates in WV. Both projects are crucial in our efforts to lower preterm birth rates and improve maternal and infant health outcomes in West Virginia.
For more information on the work on Preterm Birth, click here.
Safe Sleep
The goal of Say YES To Safe Sleep For Babies is to make infants as safe as possible in their sleeping environment and prevent sleep-related injuries and deaths of babies under the age of one. Annual training for hospitals and home visitors if offered in conjunction with Team for West Virginia Children Our Babies: Safe & Sound.
For more information contact Mary Beth Stewart at mbstewart@wvperinatal.org or visit: teamwv.org/our-babies-safe-sound.
