Birthing Safely -- The Focus of a Two Day Kaiser Permanente Conference.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 17, 2003

More than 300 Kaiser Permanente health care providers from around the country will take part in a two-day conference to learn about a new program, the Perinatal Patient Safety Project, (PPSP) designed to decrease errors and create a culture of safety in obstetrics.

The conference, "Celebrating the Success...Renewing the Promise" will be held on Thursday, Oct. 23 - Friday, Oct. 24 at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco.

"Kaiser Permanente provides extremely high quality of care in our Labor and Delivery units," said Julie Nunes, RN, MS, regional director of clinical risk management and PPSP principal investigator. "But even one birth injury is a tragedy for the family, the health care workers and the organization."

Based on Human Factors, a safety program that was developed by the airline industry, the Perinatal Patient Safety Project creates a climate of improved communication, collaboration, teamwork, and situational awareness.

The project was piloted at four Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in northern California, San Francisco, Walnut Creek, San Jose and Hayward.

"Anyone who is aware of anything that may not be going well has the responsibility to bring it to the attention of the whole treatment team. We all want the same result, which is a good outcome for the mother and baby," said Orin Bigman, MD, Psychiatry, Walnut Creek and Associate Physician-in-Chief for Risk, Diablo Service Area.

Along with briefings and assertiveness training, the health care providers at the four sites were trained in Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendations. (SBAR), a communication technique that provides concise but thorough information adapted from the US Navy.

The two-day conference runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 23-Oct. 24. Interviews are available with: Paul Preston, MD, anesthesiologist, San Francisco Medical Center, Robin Field, MD, director, perinatal services, San Francisco Medical Center, and Phil Madvig, MD, associate executive director, The Permanente Medical Group. Since all the physicians will be speaking at the meeting, interviews can be scheduled before or after the conference.

Kaiser Permanente is a non-profit, prepaid, group practice health maintenance organization (HMO), founded in 1945. The Kaiser Permanente Northern California Region has almost 3.2 million members. It includes 4,694 physicians in The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) and approximately 54,300 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals and TPMG employees. The Region is organized into six service areas served by 17 major medical centers.

http://www.kaiserpermanente.org