Among the most fundamental indicators of a nation’s health status are perinatal morbidity and mortality. The New Jersey Perinatal Quality Collaborative (NJPQC) is working to address some of New Jersey’s most critical perinatal health issues, including one of the nation’s highest C-section rates (36 percent) and maternal mortality that ranks 35th in the country (11.2 per 10,000 births.)

On June 4, NJPQC’s network of hospitals; perinatal care clinicians and other providers; public health professionals; maternal and child organizations; and other key stakeholders will gather at the NJHA Conference and Events Center for a daylong conference on perinatal quality improvement. NJPQC is working with its partners and participating hospitals to test, evaluate and spread best practices – through comprehensive provider and community education – to improve the quality of perinatal care, improve population-level outcomes in maternal and infant health and reduce disparities.

Thirty-seven women die, on average, for every 100,000 live births in New Jersey, compared with 20 nationally. African-American women in New Jersey are also five times more likely than their white counterparts to die from pregnancy-related complications.

Participants will become familiarized with the NJPQC projects: tackling obstetrics hemorrhage, severe hypertension bundle implementation and a C-section reduction initiative. Teams that attend will also learn about strategies, tools and tactics for sustaining these efforts at their facility from leaders that have implemented this work in other states.

All hospitals attending are expected to bring a brief quality improvement storyboard to the conference, identifying current quality improvement projects, team members and current successes and barriers. It is expected that most teams will be in the early stages of the quality improvement work.

Click here to register.