Penn Highlands DuBois Receives Inaugural Pennsylvania Maternal Health Designation Award
Penn Highlands DuBois received a Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) inaugural Designations Award at the organization’s annual conference in Harrisburg on May 22, 2024.
Designation signifies the hospital established multidisciplinary teams that have demonstrated improvements in maternal and newborn care by sharing best practices and data in their hospital and community.
Hospitals had the opportunity to earn a Designation for each 2023-24 PA PQC initiative that they actively participated in, including: Immediate Postpartum Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (IPLARC), substance use disorders (SUD), and substance exposed newborn (SEN).
The Maternal and Child Center of Penn Highlands DuBois earned a silver designation in recognition of its work in the issue area of SEN in its quality improvement work. The hospital is among a growing number of health systems offering “Eat, Sleep and Console,” an evidence-based model of care that focuses on the health and wellness of a mother with substance use disorder throughout her pregnancy and one year after delivery. The program focuses on providing comforting care without medication.
“We introduced ‘Eat, Sleep and Console’ in our hospital in 2023 and it has proven to be a safe and effective way to provide care to newborns who were exposed to substances in utero,” said Suzanne J. McCullough, BSN, RN-NIC, Director of the Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Penn Highlands DuBois. “Parents tell us they find this program satisfying because it is comforting to know that their babies do not have to experience withdrawal by substituting one medication for another.”
Designation awards and levels are based on meeting quality improvement milestone criteria over a 12-month period, starting from April 2023 through March 2024.
In Pennsylvania, perinatal health issues persist, including racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and neonatal outcomes, higher than average maternal sepsis rates and drug overdose deaths during pregnancy and postpartum. The PA PQC addresses these challenges through various initiatives, including Maternal Opioid Use Disorder, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Maternal Sepsis, and Safe Sleep. Through collaborative efforts, the PA PQC aims to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes across the state.
The PA PQC is administered by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WHAMglobal, and it is affiliated with the Northeast PQC (NEPaPQC).
Shown (l. to r.) Sharon Shattenberg, RN, Service Line Director of the Maternal and Child Center; Sheri McCartney, RN; Lily Pearce, RN,; Cheryl Krieg, RN, Maternal and Child Center Nurse Educator; Suzanne McCullough, RN, Director of the Penn Highlands DuBois NICU; Jackie Westrick, RN NICU; Dana Kulbatsky, Case Management; and Ruby Welpott, PCA, NICU, display the banner recognizing the Center's Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) Designations Award for adding Patient Voice to the care of Substance Exposed Newborns.