As a part of 2020 Patient Safety and Quality Week, the UF Health Invasive Placenta Management Team received one of four Team Safety and Quality Awards for Hospital Goal Improvement.
This multidisciplinary team, which includes both Pediatric Radiology and Vascular & Interventional Radiology division faculty, recognized the process for managing patients with placenta accreta was suboptimal. They began their cycles of improvement by analyzing cases from the previous 5 years and identifying factors associated with inefficient processes and complications. They developed and implemented a standardized evidence-based protocol and checklist tailored to our environment, and then systematically collected and analyzed relevant data, and debriefed the team members on a regular basis. Challenges they faced and addressed in subsequent improvement cycles included moving to a new Operating Room and adapting to emergency cases for which the protocol needed to be implemented with short notice. The impact of these changes has been statistically significant decreases in maternal morbidity from 39% to 12%; estimated median blood loss from 1500cc to 800cc; and transfusion of blood producs from 49% to 27% (p<.05).