Maternity Network proves a hit with Midwives

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Maternity Network proves a hit with Midwives

posted 29 Nov 2018, 06:20 by Hollie O'Connell

30 November 2018

The Maternity Members Network was developed this year as an environment for clinicians to collaborate and share best practice developed locally through Flo’s implementation. The network hosts quarterly calls facilitating members of the wider Simple Telehealth Community of Practice to come together for one hour to share and discuss their experiences, outcomes, ideas or queries to support their maternity patients. The role of peer to peer conversations cannot be underestimated in igniting innovation; being able to chat to a like minded clinician who has already, or may be planning to introduce Flo into their pathway is a valuable part of any clinical redesign, and one that has underpinned the spread of pathways across the Community of Practice so far.

Each call sees a featured pathway or a team sharing their experience of introducing Flo to their patients around a specific maternity patient cohort. Previous featured teams or pathways have been greatly received by the members of the network and the calls provide a foundation for further clinical collaboration and peer to peer learning.

The network has so far heard from Janette, Antenatal and Newborn Screening Lead/ Senior Midwife Sonographer from City Hospitals Sunderland, part of the original team who developed the Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) pathways; to read more please click here. Based on robust early evaluation, these pathways have spread beyond the North East and have now been adopted in several maternity units as a result of the teams innovation and commitment to innovation. Karen McKillop and Ayleen Austin, both Midwives at County Community Hospital within NHS Highlands, also shared their experiences with Flo as a support to Foetal Movement Awareness for their Mum’s to be. The aim of the pathway was to help women to be more aware of their babies movements. NHS Highland’s foetal movement pathway was developed inline with current guidance practiced locally. The team also incorporated bite size messages into Flo’s protocol that shared health promotion advice and also clinic appointment reminders. The pathway commenced when mums to be reached 16 weeks of their pregnancy with Flo interacting through to 38 weeks. 50% of the team’s current caseload were being supported by Flo; patients fed back:

82% of women said that Flo helped them become more aware of their baby’s movements
92% of women felt that Flo’s messages helped them to attend their appointments
93% of women confirmed that they would recommend Flo to other women in the same circumstances

The calls begin with an overview of the previous call, which is an opportunity for those who were unable to attend, to receive an update and request more information if required. This is then followed by a short update on new maternity pathways developed within the Community of Practice since the last call. The focus is then handed over to the featured team, for them to share their experiences, outcomes and any challenges they have overcome so far. There is also the opportunity for members to ask any questions or request more detailed information.

The discussions are open to the group and are not limited to the featured team or pathway, any ideas or thoughts around maternity related conditions are welcomed. The discussions on the call are a really good opportunity to collaborate with clinicians that may be in a similar position, but may be working in another part of the country.

Since the Maternity Members Network began a forum within the members section of our website, www.simple.uk.net has been developed to allow community members to leave questions or request for more information on specific maternity pathways. This ensures that you do not have to wait until the next call to be able to ask your question and allows the conversation to continue.