Case Study: Penn Medicine Chester County Hospital 2024 Achievement Award

Excellence in Care—Small/Medium Division

Improving Postpartum Outcomes and Decreasing Health Care Disparities in Hispanic Patients

The Goal

The goals of this initiative were to:

• Improve postpartum outcomes and decrease health care disparities among Hispanic patients
• Build trust with the Hispanic population
• Minimize the impact of social risks on health

Language, access to care, social determinants of health, the organization/care team, culture, and bias were identified as possible overarching contributors.

Intervention

Project interventions included:

• Expansion of interpreter/translation services
• Updating educational resources
• Back-to-back appointment scheduling
• Establishment of a food pantry
• Increasing social work hours
• Providing tours of the inpatient units (in Spanish)

Results

An overall downward trend of complications in Hispanic postpartum patients has been attained with a fiscal year 2023 Hispanic complication rate of 2.0 percent, and a low of 0.9 percent during fiscal year 2022.

For those who had delivered more than one infant at the hospital, 27 percent reported an improved level of care. Themes of increased attentiveness, patience, and communication related to education were gained from patient interviews.

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Topics: Public Health, Quality Initiatives

Revision Date: 2/20/2024

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