Established Evidence Results

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HEALTH_CARE_PROVIDER_PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, HOSPITAL, Chart Audit and Feedback, Guideline Change and Implementation, Quality Improvement, Policy/Guideline (State), STATE, Collaboration with Local Agencies (Health Care Provider/Practice), Collaboratives, Policy/Guideline (Hospital)

Intervention Description: Hospitals participating in the MDPQC (Maryland Perinatal-Neonatal Quality Care Collaborative) agreed to implement practices from the "Safe Reduction of Primary Cesarean Births" patient safety bundle, developed by the Council on Patient Safety in Women's Health Care. As a requirement of participation, hospital teams sent at least one team member to each collaborative event. Activities included a June 2016 in-person kick off meeting for two to three representatives from each hospital to familiarize them with the cesarean delivery bundle and the requirements of participation, followed by conference calls that occurred every month in the first year and every 2 months in the second year. Additional in-person meetings for all hospital teams took place at 12 months and at the end of the collaborative (November 2018). Nice webinars on related clinical topics were presented throughout the 30-month period. The collaborative director provided facilitation support to site teams through calls and visits when requested by the site team or when site participation lapsed.

Intervention Results: Among the 26 bundle practices that were assessed, participating hospitals reported having a median of seven practices (range 0-23) already in place before the collaborative and implementing a median of four (range 0-17) new practices during the collaborative. Across the collaborative, the cesarean delivery rates decreased from 28.5% to 26.9% (P=.011) for all nulliparous term singleton vertex births and from 36.1% to 31.3% (P<.001) for nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex inductions. Five hospitals had a statistically significant decrease in nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean delivery rates and four had a significant increase. Nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean delivery rates were significantly lower across hospitals that implemented more practices in the "Response" domain of the bundle.

Conclusion: The MDPQC was associated with a statewide reduction in cesarean delivery rates for nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex births.

Setting: 31 Maryland birthing hospitals

Population of Focus: Among the 26 bundle practices that were assessed, participating hospitals reported having a median of seven practices (range 0–23) already in place before the collaborative and implementing a median of four (range 0–17) new practices during the collaborative. Across the collaborative, the cesarean delivery rates decreased from 28.5% to 26.9% (P5.011) for all nulliparous term singleton vertex births and from 36.1% to 31.3% (P,.001) for nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex inductions. Five hospitals had a statistically significant decrease in nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean delivery rates and four had a significant increase. Nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean delivery rates were significantly lower across hospitals that implemented more practices in the “Response” domain of the bundle.

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Care Coordination, Nurse/Nurse Practitioner, Collaboratives,

Intervention Description: The intervention described in the study is a longitudinal care coordination program for infants with medical complexity. The program provides care coordination to infants in the NICU through their first year at home, with a focus on family-facing activities. The program aims to support families in navigating the complex healthcare system, accessing community resources, and coordinating care across inpatient and outpatient settings. The care coordination program involves the involvement of care coordinators, outpatient providers, and program organizers to provide comprehensive support to families.

Intervention Results: Parent-reported benefits included frequent communication and personalized support that met families’ and patients’ evolving needs. Care coordinators, who were trained as nurses and social workers, developed longitudinal relationships with parents. This seemed to facilitate individualized support throughout the first year of life. Providers reported that smaller caseloads were central to the success of the program.

Conclusion: As is true for all descriptive program evaluations, this study offers observations about this program without drawing definitive conclusions about impact.

Study Design: The study design is a descriptive program evaluation using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Framework for Program Evaluation. The study used a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach to evaluate parental experiences, provider perspectives, and care coordinator perspectives. The study also developed a logic model to describe program structure and stated goals.

Setting: The study was conducted at a level IV NICU at a freestanding academic children's hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

Population of Focus: The target audience for the study includes healthcare providers, particularly those involved in the care of infants with medical complexity, such as neonatologists, nurses, therapists, chaplains, child life specialists, primary care physicians, surgeons, physician assistants, and nurse coordinators. Additionally, the study is relevant to care coordinators, program organizers, and researchers interested in longitudinal care coordination for infants with medical complexity.

Sample Size: 5 parents were interviewed, and 23 parents completed a survey; 8 providers were interviewed, and 26 providers participated in focus groups; 2 care coordinators were interviewed.

Age Range: The age range of the study participants is from birth to the first year of life, as the program provides care coordination to infants in the NICU through their first year at home.

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HEALTH_CARE_PROVIDER_PRACTICE, Prolonged Second Stage of Labor, HOSPITAL, Guideline Change and Implementation, Quality Improvement, Collaboratives, Policy/Guideline (Hospital)

Intervention Description: Standardized second-stage labor evidence-based practice recommendations were structured into an interdisciplinary “5 Ps practice bundle” (patience, positioning, physiologic resuscitation, progress, preventing urinary harm) and implemented across 34 birthing hospitals. The second-stage labor practices were derived from the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses and the American College of Nurse-Midwives professional guidelines. The recommendations are designed to support the laboring woman's normal physiologic processes and avoid unnecessary interventions.

Intervention Results: Significant improvements were observed in second-stage practices. Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses' perinatal nursing care quality measure Second-Stage of Labor: Mother-Initiated Spontaneous Pushing significantly improved [pre-implementation 43% (510/1,195), post-implementation 76% (1,541/2,028), p < .0001]. Joint Commission Perinatal Care-02: nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean rate significantly decreased (p = 0.02) with no differences in maternal morbidity, or negative newborn birth outcomes. Unexpected complications in term births significantly decreased in all newborns (p < 0.001), and for newborns from vaginal births (p = 0.03). Birth experience satisfaction rose from the 69th to the 81st percentile.

Conclusion: Clinical implications: Implementing 13 evidence-based second-stage labor practices derived from the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses and the American College of Nurse-Midwives professional guidelines achieved our goals of safely reducing primary cesarean birth among low-risk nulliparous women, and optimizing maternal and fetal outcomes associated with labor and birth. By minimizing routine interventions, nurses support physiologic birth and improve women's birth satisfaction.

Setting: 34 birthing hospitals in the Trinity Health System

Population of Focus: Nulliparous women with term singleton vertex gestations

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HEALTH_CARE_PROVIDER_PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, Active Management of Labor, Labor Support, HOSPITAL, STATE, Quality Improvement, Policy/Guideline (State), Collaboratives, Policy/Guideline (Hospital)

Intervention Description: California hospitals whose nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean delivery rates were above the Healthy People 2020 goal of 23.9% in 2015 were invited to participate in the Supporting Vaginal Birth collaborative led by the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC). The participating hospitals were organized into small teams of six to eight hospitals each led by a physician and a nurse mentor who provided clinical expertise and quality-improvement coaching. The mentors were from other hospitals and had experience in prior CMQCC quality collaboratives. The collaborative focused on implementation of ACOG–SMFM guidelines for labor management and on increasing nursing labor support. A modified Institute for Healthcare Improvement Breakthrough Series collaborative model was used with monthly team check-in phone calls and sharing of implementation ideas and materials. Hospitals received training materials, Grand Rounds for physicians and nurses, educational webinars, and on-site assistance from their mentors.

Intervention Results: Among collaborative hospitals, the nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean delivery rate fell from 29.3% in 2015 to 25.0% in 2017 (2017 vs 2015 adjusted OR [aOR] 0.76, 95% CI 0.73-0.78). None of the six safety measures showed any difference comparing 2017 to 2015. As a sensitivity analysis, we examined the tercile of hospitals with the greatest decline (31.2%-20.6%, 2017 vs 2015 aOR 0.54, 95% CI 0.50-0.58) to evaluate whether they had greater risk of poor maternal and neonatal outcomes. Again, no measure was statistically worse, and the severe unexpected newborn complications composite actually declined (3.2%-2.2%, aOR 0.71, 95% CI 0.55-0.92).

Conclusion: Mothers and neonates participating in a large-scale Supporting Vaginal Birth collaborative had no evidence of worsened birth outcomes, even in hospitals with large cesarean delivery rate reductions, supporting the safety of efforts to reduce primary cesarean delivery using American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine guidelines and enhanced labor support.

Setting: 56 California hospitals

Population of Focus: Nulliparous women with term singleton vertex gestations

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HEALTH_CARE_PROVIDER_PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, HOSPITAL, Chart Audit and Feedback, Quality Improvement, Policy/Guideline (Hospital), Collaboratives

Intervention Description: This was a multifaceted quality improvement initiative designed to decrease the cesarean delivery rates for NTSV births in California. From 2016 to 2019, the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative partnered with Smart Care California to implement multiple approaches to decrease the rates of cesarean delivery. Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, efforts were aimed at both the internal (hospital level) and the external (statewide) environment. Hospitals with rates of cesarean delivery greater than 23.9% for NTSV births were invited to join 1 of 3 cohorts for an 18-month quality improvement collaborative between July 2016 and June 2019. Within the collaborative, multidisciplinary teams implemented multiple strategies supported by mentorship, shared learning, and rapid-cycle data feedback. Partnerships among nonprofit organizations, state governmental agencies, purchasers, and health plans addressed the external environment through transparency, award programs, and incentives.

Intervention Results: A total of 7 574 889 NTSV births occurred in the US from 2014 to 2019, of which 914 283 were at 238 hospitals in California. All California hospitals were exposed to the statewide actions to reduce the rates of cesarean delivery, including the 149 hospitals that had baseline rates of cesarean delivery greater than 23.9% for NTSV births, of which 91 (61%) participated in the quality improvement collaborative. The rate of cesarean delivery for NTSV births in California decreased from 26.0% (95% CI, 25.8%-26.2%) in 2014 to 22.8% (95% CI, 22.6%-23.1%) in 2019 (relative risk, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.87-0.89). The rate of cesarean delivery for NTSV births in the US (excluding California births) was 26.0% in both 2014 and 2019 (relative risk, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.996-1.005). The difference-in-differences analysis revealed that the reduction in the rate of cesarean delivery for NTSV births in California was 3.2% (95% CI, 1.7%-3.5%) higher than in the US (excluding California). Compared with the hospitals and the periods not exposed to the collaborative activities, and after adjusting for patient characteristics and time using a modified stepped-wedge analysis, exposure to collaborative activities was associated with a lower odds of cesarean delivery for NTSV births (24.4% vs 24.6%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.85-0.89]).

Conclusion: In this observational study of NTSV births in California from 2014 to 2019, the rates of cesarean delivery decreased over time in the setting of the implementation of a coordinated hospital-level collaborative and statewide initiatives designed to support vaginal birth.

Setting: 238 nonmilitary hospitals providing maternity services in California

Population of Focus: Nulliparous women with term singleton vertex gestations

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HEALTH_CARE_PROVIDER_PRACTICE, Provider Training/Education, HOSPITAL, Collaboratives, Residents/Medical Students

Intervention Description: In accordance with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Training Program guidelines, residents were required to develop competency in outlet, low, midcavity, and rotational instrumental birth. In 2010, the Monash Health Centre in Victoria Australia implemented a formalized lecture series and mannequin simulation training preceding mandatory instrumental credentialing for all obstetric residents. Credentialing required residents to be directly supervised by senior obstetricians in human instrumental birth until assessed as competent for unsupervised practice (remote supervision). Residents could only be credentialed in vacuum birth after being first credentialed in forceps birth. All residents were required to meet with training supervisors at 3-monthly intervals to review credentialing documents and implement remedial pathways if credentialing was not achieved in an appropriate timeframe.

Intervention Results: There were 72,490 births from 2005 to 2014 at Monash Health, of which 8,789 (12%) were attempted instrumental vaginal births. After the intervention, rates of forceps births increased [autoregressive integrated moving average coefficient (β) 1.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.96; P<.001], and vacuum births decreased (β -1.43, 95% CI -2.5 to -0.37; P<.01). Rates of postpartum hemorrhage decreased (β -1.3, 95% CI -2.07 to -0.49; P=.002) and epidural use increased (β 0.03, 95% CI 0.02-0.05; P<.001). There was no change in rates of unsuccessful instrumental births (β -0.39, 95% CI -3.03 to 2.43; P=.83), intrapartum cesarean delivery (β -0.29, 95% CI -0.55 to 0.14; P=.24), third- and fourth-degree tears (β -1.04, 95% CI -3.1 to 1.00; P=.32), or composite neonatal morbidity (β -0.18, 95% CI -0.38 to 0.02, P=.08). Unsuccessful instrumental births were more likely to be in nulliparous women (P<.001), less likely to have a senior obstetrician present (P<.001), be at later gestation (P<.001), and involved larger birth weight neonates (P<.001).

Conclusion: A policy of ensuring obstetric forceps competency before beginning vacuum training results in more forceps births, fewer postpartum hemorrhages, and no increase in third- and fourth-degree perineal injuries or episiotomies.

Setting: Monash Health, an academic health science center in Melbourne, Australia

Population of Focus: All patients with attempted instrumental births

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): HEALTH_CARE_PROVIDER_PRACTICE, Midwifery, HOSPITAL, Quality Improvement, Collaboratives

Intervention Description: Midwives provide intrapartum care to low-risk nulliparous women in hospital settings where obstetricians also care for women during childbirth. This model of care is one of the measurable components of the Obstetrical Care Outcomes Assessment Program, a quality improvement initiative that uses clinical data from maternal and newborn medical records to evaluate the care given to pregnant women during labor, delivery and the postpartum period as the basis for exploring actionable and sustainable improvements. The program uses health care provider specific, chart-abstracted data for quality improvement from all births at participating sites. Multiple hospitals in the Northwest United States, including urban, suburban, and rural centers supported by I, II, III, and IV levels of maternal care participate in this quality improvement collaborative.

Intervention Results: The study cohort comprised 23,100 births (3,816 midwife and 19,284 obstetrician). Compared with obstetricians, midwifery patients had significantly lower intervention rates, an approximately 30% lower risk of cesarean delivery in nulliparous patients (adjusted relative risk [aRR] 0.68; 95th% CI 0.57-0.82), and an approximately 40% lower risk of cesarean in multiparous patients (aRR 0.57; 95th% CI 0.36-0.89). Operative vaginal birth was also less common in nulliparous patients (aRR 0.73; 95th% CI 0.57-0.93) and multiparous patients (aRR 0.30; 95th% CI 0.14-0.63). Shoulder dystocia was more common in multiparous patients receiving midwifery care (aRR 1.42; 95th% CI 1.04-1.92).

Conclusion: In low-risk pregnancies, midwifery care in labor was associated with decreased intervention, decreased cesarean and operative vaginal births, and, in multiparous women, an increased risk for shoulder dystocia. Greater integration of midwifery care into maternity services in the United States may reduce intervention in labor and potentially even cesarean delivery, in low-risk pregnancies. Larger research studies are needed to evaluate uncommon but important maternal and newborn outcomes.

Setting: Hospitals participating in a multi-center quality improvement collaborative (the Obstetrical Care Outcomes Assessment Program)

Population of Focus: Low-risk nulliparous pregnant women