Safety Program in Perinatal Care-II (SPPC-II) Demonstration Project

The Safety Program in Perinatal Care-II (SPPC-II) Demonstration Project complements the AIM maternal safety bundles by emphasizing essential adaptive teamwork and communication skills to improve unit-level patient safety culture and obstetric care.

This project is funded and implemented by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Contract Number HHSP233201500020I in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM).

Background

The SPPC-II project integrates the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)’s teamwork and communication tools (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety or TeamSTEPPS) with two AIM maternal safety bundles – Obstetric Hemorrhage in Texas (TX) and Severe Hypertension in Oklahoma (OK). SPPC-II is being implemented by AHRQ and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and AIM. OK and TX are the first AIM states to participate in this demonstration project.

The AIM program is working toward elimination of all preventable maternal mortality and severe morbidity across the United States. As of September 2019, there are 27 states participating in AIM, an initiative developed and funded by HRSA.  The AIM maternal safety bundles that hospitals implement provide a structured way of reducing variations in care and improving care processes and patient outcomes. However, patient safety isn’t simply about the application of clinical knowledge and expertise. Teamwork and communication skills are also essential because they enable the translation of technical competence into practice and deeply affect the quality of clinical care delivery.

Training Workshop Description

Implementation in OK and TX will begin with a full-day interactive workshop during early 2020 for hospital AIM team leads. One or two AIM team leads per hospital will join their AIM peers from hospitals across the state for a dynamic workshop which will provide the foundation they need to bring these tools and resources back to the frontline staff (nurses, physicians, etc.) at their hospital. It is strongly recommended that at least 1 of the AIM team leads is a practicing physician.

Workshop participants will learn about and deepen their knowledge of teamwork basics and communication tools, including huddles, debriefs, and call-out/check-backs. In addition, the workshop faculty from JHU will help participants plan for implementing the project at their hospital with a session dedicated to implementation. Participants will leave the training with a preliminary plan on how to begin implementation at their facility and a Facilitator Guide containing detailed guidance and examples on how to manage the rollout of these materials.

*Maintenance of Certification Improvement in Medical Practice (MOC Part IV) is available.

Click here to register.