Title of Work

Developing Innovative, Interprofessional Solutions to Address Nurse Education for Obstetric Critical Care

Document Type

Presentation

Publication/Presentation Date

January 2020

Conference Location

Virtual

Abstract

Purpose for the program: Obstetric and intensive care unit (ICU) nurses were being required increasingly to provide collaborative care to obstetric patients who were critically ill. Labor and delivery unit nurses voiced anxiety and decreased self-confidence in this complex setting. Proposed change; This innovative, evidence-based practice project involved an interprofessional team that developed a multimodal, accessible educational toolkit for obstetric and ICU nurses to decrease anxiety and improve nursing self-confidence in caring for these patients. Implementation: After implementation of an interactive online learning module, which included video of a birth in the cardiovascular ICU, a SharePoint learning–resources site, and a resources–role folder (including an individualized care plan that outlined responsibilities for the ICU and labor and delivery unit nurses during the care of these patients), a postsurvey will be administered. The obstetric and ICU toolkit is critical in advancing the content knowledge, increasing self-confidence, and decreasing anxiety of the nursing staff who are responsible for the care of obstetric ICU patients. Outcomes and evaluation: Through use of survey methodology, the interprofessional team collected demographic information on nursing staff and measured levels of anxiety and confidence before the implementation of the educational toolkit. A total of 29 nurses consented and submitted this survey, including 16 ICU nurses and 12 labor and delivery unit nurses. It was notable that 14 of 16 ICU nurses and 11 of 12 labor and delivery nurses had provided or assisted with care for a pregnant or postpartum patient in the ICU at the time of the survey. Of these nurses who had previously provided care to this patient population, 50% of ICU nurses and 73% of labor and delivery nurses reported not having received previous education on how to care for women with acquired or congenital cardiac conditions during pregnancy. Unsurprisingly, in both populations of nurses, 75% of respondents (12 out of 16 ICU and 9 out of 12 labor and delivery) reported not confident to at least 1 of the 13 prompts around confidence in caring for the obstetric ICU cardiac patient, documenting an immediate need for this project. Implications for nursing practice: Working as an interprofessional team yielded stronger recommendations for course of action, and bedside nursing and leadership buy-in allowed the team to balance staff needs with operational constraints of the participating units. The partnership between the hospital and academia proved invaluable in the preparation of comprehensive staff education.

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