Healthcare Learning Innovation: Reducing OB Risk with Simulation and Gaming

April 1, 2021
April 1, 2021

More than 600 American women die annually during or immediately after childbirth. Although maternal obstetric complications develop in only 2% of all births, they account for approximately 47% of all low risk hospital deaths. These types of statistics have placed regulatory agencies—like CMS and Joint Commission—on high alert and have spurred the creation of OB Core Measures in which hospitals will have to report, verify, and account for their obstetrical outcomes.

Interactive Learning Focused on Saving Lives

Together, HealthStream and MedStar-SiTEL have developed and are delivering an OB Risk program that uses interactive learning to help ensure staff competency. The OB modules contain gaming and micro-simulation techniques to increase learning retention while developing critical thinking skills. The overarching goal is to decrease adverse patient outcomes, improve perinatal outcomes, and ensure competent mother-baby care through evidence-based training.

Early recognition coupled with accurate treatment by qualified, competent staff are the only safety net mothers and babies have during childbirth.

The OB Risk Program has as its intended audience Physicians, Anesthesiologists, Midwives, and Nurses that participate in the care of obstetric patients. The courses address high risk patient safety issues in the perinatal care setting. Program content includes:

  • Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM)
  • Hypertension in Pregnancy
  • Postpartum Hemorrhage
  • Shoulder Dystocia
  • Trial of Labor After Cesarean (TOLAC)
  • Effective Communication and Event Disclosure in Obstetrics

GOAL: Prevent 1,000 Maternal Deaths By 2018

In addition, three of the modules—Hypertension in Pregnancy, Postpartum Hemorrhage, and EFM—are also identified by the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) as effective interventions in the “Prevent 1,000 Maternal Deaths in the U.S. by 2018” initiative which identifies potential maternal and fetal distress.

As one component of the full OB Risk Pprogram, the EFM module features a knowledge pre-assessment, virtual microsimulation, a single player EFM game, and four courseware modules designed to move the student from beginning stages to advanced levels of knowledge, practice, and context.

About MedStar Health: Right-Sized Learning

The Simulation Training & Education Lab (SiTEL) is the education technology group of MedStar Health, a 10-hospital $4.5B not-for-profit healthcare company serving the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. areas.

SiTEL’s mission is to transform educational approaches in healthcare by developing training technologies and educational approaches that are user friendly and easily accessible. MedStar’s innovative learning solutions are focused on a simple concept: to improve patient care by reducing risk and using an adaptable learning infrastructure.

MedStar SiTEL seeks to create “right-sized learning”— online modules comprised of easily-digestible content that sticks, focuses on outcomes, and makes learning accessible. Staff become engaged by the use of high-production media, relevant stories, opportunities for clinical decision-making, and performance support tools ensuring that learners have access to what they need, when they need it. Right-sized learning is the new world of reasonably-sized content that is often delivered online and via social media in short segments.

This blog post is an excerpt from an article in HealthStream’s Trends in Healthcare Learning eBook. Learn more and download it here.