As one of Louisiana’s largest birthing hospitals, as well as New
Orleans’ high-risk delivery hospital, Touro is committed to providing
quality, patient-centered care for both mothers and babies. We know that
in order to improve Maternal Health for our patients, we must provide
quality care within our Family Birthing Center and outside the walls of
our hospital, within our community.
As part of the
Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative (LaPQC), Touro is playing an active role to advance healthcare equity, implement
best practices, and improve outcomes for women and newborns in Louisiana.
Touro Infirmary is proud to be a participating birthing facility in the
LaPQC Reducing Maternal Morbidity Initiative.
Touro is committed to upholding
evidence-based best practices to ensure safe, equitable, and dignified birth for all birthing patients.
This includes safety policies, protocols, and daily operations to identify
and efficiently treat hemorrhage and hypertension.
Touro meets the standard of care for hemorrhage policy, massive transfusion
protocol, hemorrhage cart, and staff education about hemorrhage.
Touro meets the standard of care for measuring and remeasuring blood pressure,
hypertension policy, and Emergency Department Hypertension Policy for
pregnant and postpartum patients.
Touro measures effectiveness of these policies and protocols through monitoring
the timely treatment of severe hypertension and percent of hemorrhage
risk assessments on admissions.
Touro continues to reduce and eliminate Early Elective Deliveries between
37-39 weeks gestation. Touro continues to lower our cesarean birth rate
which leads to better quality care and improved health outcomes.
Touro implements a variety of safety and quality improvement initiatives,
including
Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) program implementation designed to improve maternal outcomes. We are also
proud to have Touro’s OB/GYNs serving as physician advisers and
subject matter experts within the AIM collaborative.
In 2020, Touro launched an
Obstetrician Hospitalist program ensuring 24-hour staffing of hospitalist physicians trained in Obstetrics
and Gynecology. This program integrates clinical and hospital OB/GYN practices
to improve health quality and decrease maternal and infant mortality.
In 2021, the Family Birthing Center instituted
Couplet Care nursing model, and initiated
IPASS handoff process for improved communication between shifts and providers. The Birthing
Center increased
OB emergency drills for providers and staff and a perinatal safety nurse was added to staff.
All of these initiatives are recommended as best practices by the American
College of Obstetrics and Gynecology for improved patient safety and quality of care.
Health Equity Training is provided to Family Birthing Center providers and staff. Training includes:
Identification of disparities in care and how disparity impacts maternal
and infant health outcomes;
How to decrease health disparities at the interpersonal and facility levels;
Historical sources of health disparities;
How to effectively communicate and establish transparency across identities,
including racial, ethnic, religious, geographic, and gender identities;
Community perspectives and resources from diverse, local constituency groups
and experts;
Case studies that highlight the impact of health disparities and how they
might be addressed.
Community Health Education and Resources:
Touro recognizes that our community suffers from a higher rate of maternal
morbidity and mortality than anywhere else in the U.S. As a community
hospital that has delivered babies for more than 100 years, Touro is committed
to improving the health of the women in our community and changing that
statistic. Touro partners with both local and national organizations to
provide Maternal Health education, screenings, and resources to promote
health equity and improve access to healthcare for women in our community.
BUILD Health Challenge: Touro is the recipient of a grant with the Bayou District Foundation,
Nola Breastfeeding Center and Louisiana Department of Health called the
Build Health Challenge, which is focusing on providing a high-risk New
Orleans population, Columbia Parc and residents in 70112, free perinatal
health support services and education to help families have the best birth
outcomes possible. Touro is providing lactation education and support
to expectant and new moms in this community.
Institute for Health Improvements and Merck for Mothers Birth
Equity Lab: Collaboration between Touro, Birthmark Doulas, and community stakeholders
to develop standards and protocols that will improve birth outcomes. The
goals are to spread the use of evidence-based care practices to reduce
complications such as hemorrhaging, hypertension, and blood clots; deploy
strategies to reduce inequities in maternal outcomes; and to partner with
women, their caregivers, health care providers, and community initiatives
to better learn and address factors that improve health outcomes for mothers
and newborns. This includes providing expectant mothers with free doula
services and postpartum navigation for high-risk patients.
Healthy Start New Orleans Maternal Mortality Initiative: Partnership to provide a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner to provide
clinic visits to identified high risk prenatal patient at LSU OB clinic,
Touro Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic, and provide navigation for these
patients throughout the postpartum period.
Healthy Start New Orleans Family Recovery Collaborative: Collaborating with Healthy Start New Orleans, physicians, social service
agencies, mental health agencies, the legal system and other community
partners, work to identify expectant mothers affected by opioid misuse,
and connect them to the appropriate resources to aid in their care and
recovery. The idea of the Family Recovery Collaborative will be to support
expectant mothers by providing comprehensive care-coordination services
specific to their needs during and after pregnancy. This includes assigning
a doula for first time moms.
NOLA baby café Touro: The Touro Foundation sponsors two Nola baby café evening locations
which provides a free drop-in breastfeeding education and support clinic.
Baby café is an international evidence-based service that aims
to increase breastfeeding rates by decreasing disparities and providing
a relaxed judgment free environment for families. Touro is the only hospital
in Louisiana to sponsor and host a baby café.
Express Yourself: Touro participates in the Kellogg funded grant, Express Yourself, which
focuses on the provision of mother’s own breast milk to very low
birth weight infants.
Nursing Nests: Touro is partnering with local businesses and community organizations to
establish free “Nursing Nests” for moms and babies throughout
the city of New Orleans. Nursing Nests are a private, safe, and comfortable
space for moms to nurse and care for babies. Breastfeeding provides unmatched
health benefits for babies and mothers, and to celebrate 100 years of
being the place where babies come from, Touro is supporting mom and baby
by providing this much-needed resource to our community.
Locations of Nursing Nests: Lakeside Mall Kids Castle, New Orleans Jewish Community Center, Audubon
Zoo, Audubon Aquarium. Our Mobile Nursing Nest is available at outdoor
community events to provide support to moms everywhere they are.
Awards and Designations:
The Family Birthing Center at Touro is recognized by state and national
organizations for providing quality care to moms and babies. Each of the
below designations are awarded as a result of meeting expansive guidelines
for providing evidence-based best practices in maternity care.
Louisiana Birth Ready +: Touro is one of only a select number of hospitals in Louisiana to receive
the Birth Ready + Designation from Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative
(LaPQC). Touro met the 37 requirements of the designation and performed
at the Birth Ready + level for outcomes and process measures. Birth Ready
Designation also celebrates improved perinatal health outcomes, the result
of implementing clinical practices that promote safe, equitable, and dignified
birth for all birthing persons in Louisiana. Each Designation level includes
five areas of requirement: participation in collaborative learning; health
disparity and patient partnership; policies and procedures; structures
and education; and outcome and process measures.
Baby Friendly Designation: Touro is designated a Baby-Friendly Birth Facility by Baby Friendly USA,
Inc., the U.S. authority for the implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital
Initiative (“BFHI”), a global program sponsored by the World
Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF). The initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing
centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding for mothers
and their babies.
Gift Designation: The Louisiana Department of Health – Office of Public Health –
Bureau of Family Health awards The Gift designation statewide to Louisiana
birthing facilities who improve hospital practices and policies that are
aligned with the evidence-based, internationally recognized Ten Steps
to Successful Breastfeeding of the WHO/UNICEF Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.
Blue Distinction Center for Maternity Care: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana designated Touro as one of the
first hospitals to receive the national Blue Distinction® Center+
for Maternity Care designation, a new designation under the Blue Distinction
Specialty Care program. The Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care
program evaluates hospitals on several quality measures, including the
percentage of newborns that fall into the category of early elective delivery,
an ongoing concern in the medical community.
Ultrasound Practice Accreditation: Touro’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic was the first practice in
New Orleans to be awarded Ultrasound Practice Accreditation by The Ultrasound
Practice Accreditation Council of the American Institute of Ultrasound
in Medicine in the areas of Obstetric- First Trimester, Obstetric- Second
Trimester, and Obstetric- Third Trimester. Touro’s Maternal Fetal
Medicine Clinic achieved this recognition by meeting rigorous voluntary
guidelines set by the diagnostic ultrasound profession.
