COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE LAUNCHES PILOT PROGRAM TO ADDRESS OBSTETRIC RACISM AMONG BLACK WOMEN

COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE LAUNCHES PILOT PROGRAM TO ADDRESS OBSTETRIC RACISM AMONG BLACK WOMEN IN HOSPITALS IN THE UNITED STATES

NASHVILLE- Aiming to name and measure obstetric racism as an adverse event using the first and only patient reported experience measure of obstetric racism, The CATCH Pilot has launched to bridge the longstanding and widening gap between hospital “talk of quality and safety” and Black patient reported experiences of quality, safety, and dignity.

The Community-led Accountability and Transformation in Care experiences and Hospital culture “CATCH” Pilot aims to name and measure obstetric racism as an adverse event using the first and only patient reported experience measure of obstetric racism© (The PREM-OB Scale™), examine the relationship between obstetric racism and postpartum mental health, and re-design postpartum care across multiple types of delivery systems.

In September of 2022, a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) demonstrated ongoing failures of the U.S. health systems to keep Black women and people safe throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. The most egregious finding of the report revealed that 84% of pregnancy-related deaths across 36 states were preventable. Although Black women only account for 13% of the total representation of U.S. women, nearly 1 in 3 people who died identified as non-Hispanic Black women. The report highlights the hidden problem with existing hospital quality and patient safety programs: the overreliance and misuse of outcome only measures as key performance indicators.

Regardless of advancements in reproductive technology and clinical practice, quality and safety experts traditionally exclude and/or erasure Black patient voices and community wisdom in shaping terminology, meanings, measurement selections, and monitoring strategies. Hospital administrators and clinicians and health insurance plans further silence Black patient voices and undermine the power of Black mothers and birthing people in telling their own hospital birth stories and in having others see, hear, and believe them.

As the Principal Investigator and Developer of the first and largest multi-state Black women designed and led quality and safety program to advance obstetric patient care, Dr. Karen A. Scott, MD, MPH, FACOG, of Birthing Cultural Rigor, aims to build a more humane and just health system integrating patient experiences and community wisdom of Black women, girls, and gender expansive people.

Dr. Scott continues,

“My responsibility is to facilitate knowledge uptake and understanding in the limitations of prioritizing outcomes data in the evaluation of maternal, infant, or perinatal quality, safety, and value of health care services and supports, using childbirth hospitalization as an exemplar. If you don’t remember anything else, remember this: Outcome only measures cannot, do NOT, and will likely NEVER capture the patient and community experiences of care, specifically the hidden narratives of preventable and unfair hurt and harm of reproducing, birthing, lactating, parenting, and partnering for pleasure and/or family building while Black in U.S. hospitals.”

The CATCH Pilot offers quality and safety experts, hospital leaders, and health insurance plans a more scientifically and culturally rigorous and precise evaluation of hospital safety performance through the use and spread of the PREM-OB Scale™ throughout birthing hospitals in the South and Midwest. The program is the first and largest multi-state Black women designed and led quality and safety program to advance obstetric patient for, by, and with Black mothers and birthing people, Black women-people led organizations, Black content experts, and allied content experts.

With primary funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and additional support from Dr. Scott and NICHQ’s Healthy Start TA and Support Center, The CATCH Pilot will recruit and enroll 1000 Black mothers and birthing people in select counties in Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee to share their care expectations and experiences during childbirth hospitalization and up to one year postpartum.

ABOUT THE CATCH PILOT

The CATCH Pilot is the first and only two-year community-led quality improvement and implementation research study designed to address obstetric racism and advance obstetric patient safety at the state level, using The Patient Reported Experience Measure of Obstetric Racism©, also known as The PREM-OB Scale™. To learn more about The CATCH Pilot, visit https://www.birthingculturalrigor.com/thecatchqipilot

ABOUT BIRTHING CULTURAL RIGOR

Founded and led by Dr. Karen A. Scott, MD, MPH, FACOG, Birthing Cultural Rigor (BCR) aims to build a more humane and just health system that integrates patient experiences and community wisdom of Black women, girls, and gender expansive people into health services design, provision, evaluation, and training. The organization builds community and organizational capacity in birthing cultural rigor within health care interactions, communication, counseling, decision-making, and documentation and dissemination of health care information during patient sign-out and within the electronic health record. To learn more about Dr. Karen A. Scott and Birthing Cultural Rigor visit https://www.birthingculturalrigor.com DR Associates Team Email: admin@drandassociates.com