UAMS Hosts POWER Workshop for Perinatal Health on April 24
| LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and the Arkansas Perinatal Quality Collaborative (ARPQC) will hold an all-day perinatal quality improvement workshop April 24 in Little Rock. This workshop is organized in partnership with the Perinatal Outcomes Workgroup Through Education and Research (POWER), a part of the High-Risk Pregnancy Program at UAMS’s Institute for Digital Health and Innovation.
The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the I. Dodd Wilson Education Building on the UAMS Little Rock campus. Workshop attendance is encouraged for front-line caregivers for maternal and neonatal patients, including nurses, doctors, midwives and doulas.
The spring conference will focus on the practices recommended through the ARPQC’s initiative to reduce the rate of primary cesarean births in Arkansas. Multiple breakout sessions will present the latest innovations in maternal health data, emergency simulations and post-birth warning signs, among others. There will also be presentations on evidence-based labor induction and intermittent auscultation, which is a technique that counts fetal heartbeats during labor.
“We’re wanting to work to increase everyone’s knowledge around the tools available to us to improve labor management and support moms towards a healthy vaginal birth,” said Dawn Brown, BSN, program director for ARPQC and POWER. “This bundle has been fun because it focuses on those key pieces that we know really help improve a mom’s success in having a vaginal delivery.”
Keynote speakers are Rebecca Hamm, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and Debra Bingham, Dr.PH., RN, chief executive officer for the Institute for Perinatal Quality Improvement.
The Arkansas Perinatal Quality Collaborative (ARPQC) is a state-based network of health care facilities and teams, policymakers, patients, and experts that work together to improve the quality of maternal health care in Arkansas. Founded in 2022, the ARPQC supports participating hospitals in implementing data-driven, evidence-based practices to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes, guided by quality improvement methods and implementation science. As a learning collaborative, facilities participating in the ARPQC share their experiences to accelerate learning and widespread implementation of best practices.
POWER is a collaborative partner of the ARPQC that supports maternal safety bundle implementation through quality improvement coaching for participating hospitals. The group also offers educational classes on safe, evidence-based patient care.
“We’re still grappling with not-great maternal outcomes,” Brown said. “To change maternal health, it’s not going to be just one thing that does it — it’s going to be a combination of changes, with a focus on evidence-based practice.”
A virtual option is available for those who cannot attend in person. To attend virtually, visit eventbrite.com/e/2024-spring-power-workshop-tickets-859659453567. For more information, contact Dawn Brown at DLBrown2@uams.edu or call 501-526-7015.
The UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation oversees the UAMS e-Link Network, the UAMS HealthNow virtual care, the Stroke Program, the Sexual Assault Assessment Program and the Sickle Cell Program. The institute has five maternal and neonatal initiatives as well as five trauma programs and also offers language interpreter services and educational resources for patients and providers.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###