Woman’s Hospital has been awarded a 2015 Funds for Safety grant by the Louisiana Hospital Association Trust Funds to go toward implementation of a Blood Quantification Program.
Started in May 2015, the Blood Quantification Program is a measure to reduce the need for women to receive blood following delivery by increasing nursing staff communication, quantifying cumulative blood loss, and early recognition of hemorrhage after childbirth.
Currently, about 2 percent of obstetric patients at Woman’s receive blood products following delivery, and the hospital aims to reduce that number. By June 2016, Woman’s expects to see a 20 percent decrease in blood products administration by the obstetrical nurses and a reduction of blood transfusions administered postpartum by up to 25 percent.
The LHA Funds for Safety grant encourages hospitals in their efforts to develop innovative, safety-related projects for their facilities, and then help them to put their ideas to work by defraying some of the costs. Hospitals were judged in a blind submission by a group of independent clinical risk consultants from Alabama and Ohio.
The LHA awarded $300,000 to 14 hospitals in Louisiana, and Woman’s was the only facility in Baton Rouge to receive grant money.
Woman’s Hospital is the 17th largest women’s specialty hospital in the United States with more than 8,500 births, 44,000 mammograms and 54,000 Pap screens annually. A private, nonprofit organization, Woman’s is consistently recognized for its innovative programs that fulfill its mission to improve the health of women and infants.