Maternal Health Crisis: OB Emergencies in the ER

About this Event:

More than two million women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts, areas without access to birthing facilities or maternity care providers. Hospital closures and a shortage of providers are driving changes in maternity care access, especially within rural areas. According to the March of Dimes, 34.3 percent of Illinois counties are defined as maternity care deserts compared to 32.6 percent of counties in the U.S. overall. The loss of hospital-based obstetrical services in these areas puts additional pressure on emergency medicine physicians, allied health professionals, and other staff to provide emergency care for pregnant and perinatal patients. Emergency medicine professionals must be adequately prepared to care for this population and be aware of medicolegal implications.

Join the Illinois State Medical Society for this webinar presented by Ann Borders, M.D., from Endeavor Health at Evanston Hospital, and Stacie Geller, Ph.D., from the University of Illinois Chicago to learn more about the maternal health crisis in Illinois including basic EMTALA-specific requirements for emergency departments without dedicated obstetrics services, common obstetrical emergencies and strategies for care or stabilization, and resources and curricula for additional training.

Presenters

Ann Borders, M.D., M.Sc., M.P.H., is a Maternal Fetal Medicine physician and Ian Bernard Horowitz Chair of Obstetrics at Endeavor Health at Evanston Hospital, Evanston, Illinois, and Clinical Professor, University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. She is the Executive Director and Obstetric Lead for the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative, a collaborative of over 100 birthing hospitals focused on improving outcomes for mothers and newborns. She is a PCORI, CDC, NIH-funded researcher addressing inequities in pregnancy outcomes. She serves on the Illinois Department of Public Health Maternal Mortality Review Committee and the State Quality Council as well as an OB Co-Chair for the National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives Executive Committee.

Stacie Geller, Ph.D., is the G. William Arends Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of Center for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine. She conducts clinical, health services and epidemiological research both nationally and internationally. She is also a founding and continuing member of the Illinois Maternal Mortality Review Committee.

Who Can Attend

Registration is open to all.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, learners will be able to:

• Recite EMTALA-specific requirements for Emergency Departments at hospitals without dedicated OB services.
• Implement policies for evaluation of active labor and protocols for transfer when indicated.
• Recognize common OB emergencies and outline management strategies for each.
• Identify and locate online resources and curricula available for additional training for OB emergencies.

Accreditation

The Illinois State Medical Society designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Credit designation

The Illinois State Medical Society is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Disclosure

There are no relevant financial relationships with ACCME-defined commercial interests for anyone who was in control of the content of this activity.