During the first two years of the Premier Perinatal Safety Initiative (PPSI), 14 participating hospitals reduced the annual rate of neonatal birth trauma in their facilities by 22 percent. The hospitals also lowered the annual rate of birth hypoxia and asphyxia, which can cause infant brain damage, by 25 percent. Participating hospitals saw a 39 percent drop in annual liability claims, compared to 10 percent in non-participating hospitals in the same healthcare systems. These statistics are part of the PPSI Phase I Summary, which was published in December 2012 and covers the period from January 2008 to December 2010. A report on Phase II, which ran from January 2011 to December 2012, is expected later this year.
The Premier healthcare alliance launched this initiative in an effort to significantly reduce preventable birth injuries. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Infant Health and Safety, was quoted in a press release announcing the program: “Infants in the United States experience close to three birth injuries for every 1,000 births, many of which are preventable, and the U.S. ranks near the bottom of industrialized nations in infant mortality. We are hopeful that this study will help identify best practices and help share them across all hospitals so as to reduce harm to infants and mothers.”
Premier’s goals for the initiative include:
- Lowering the incidence of certain infrequent, though serious, injuries that could result in a wide range of harmful outcomes, including birth asphyxia and permanent neurologic disability
- Better defining preventable perinatal harm
- Identifying care practices that can result in improved outcomes
- Measuring the financial value of these care improvements, including evaluation of whether harm reductions lead to fewer liability claims and less costly pay-outs
According to Premier, participating hospitals aimed “to improve their culture of safety, increase teamwork and improve communications among team members.” The hospitals employed what Premier calls “care bundles,” which are “groups of evidence-based interventions that are more effective when implemented together rather than individually.” The PPSI care bundles, developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, are intended to prevent the following clinical issues, which are commonly cited as being the cause of birth trauma:
- Failure to recognize an infant in distress
- Failure to initiate a timely cesarean birth
- Failure to properly resuscitate a depressed baby
- Inappropriate use of labor-inducing drugs
- Inappropriate use of vacuum or forceps
Birth injuries can result in lifelong complications that require ongoing treatment and care. If your child has a birth defect, you may be entitled to compensation. To learn about your legal rights, contact an experienced cerebral palsy attorney today. A cerebral palsy lawyer can help your family get the justice it deserves.
