America has the highest maternal mortality rate among affluent nations and a new study shows that many nurses are ill-informed about the potential complications that can follow childbirth. A CDC analysis found that 60 percent of maternal deaths are preventable and nurses can go through more training to help mothers identify worrisome symptoms of things like blood clots.
From ProPublica and NPR:
Read Full Article »In focus groups conducted in New Jersey and Georgia, two states with especially high rates of maternal mortality, researchers discovered that postpartum nurses spent most of their time educating moms about how to care for their new babies, not themselves. The information mothers did receive about their own health risks was wildly inconsistent, and sometimes incorrect, Bingham said. The written materials women took home often weren't much better.
Some nurses were uncomfortable discussing the possibility that complications could be life-threatening. “We had some nurses come out and say, ‘Well you know what, I don't want to scare the woman. This is supposed to be a happy time. I don't want to seem like all I want to talk about is death,'” Bingham said.
