Knowledge variation in OB creates risk

Childbirth is a natural process that usually ends with a healthy mother and baby. But severe complications can occur suddenly that require a quick, accurate response. When things go wrong in obstetrics, the reasons are often unclear, but a lack of knowledge is frequently the root cause. Errors in clinical judgment were cited in 77% of more than 800 clinically coded obstetric malpractice cases according to CRICO Strategies, which offers clinical risk intelligence to 400+ hospitals and more than 180,000 physicians.

This study aims to show the hidden variation in the knowledge that may lead to errors during childbirth. It used the Amplifire learning platform, which is based in cognitive science and proven in over three billion learner interactions.

Study Design

310 Nurses and 192 Providers Patient-facing OB nurses and OB doctors at a large east coast hospital received four Amplifire courses covering critical aspects of obstetrics:

• Reduce incidents and near-misses associated with the health and safety of pregnant women and their unborn children

• Reduce the financial burden of malpractice claims associated with obstetrics

• Address the most frequently seen rule-based, skill-based, and knowledge-based active and latent errors in obstetrics

• Target and reduce the most common system errors related to electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) including fear of conflict, knowledge deficits, and communication failures

By the end of each course, 100% of the clinicians were proficient (confident and correct) on all the material.

Electronic Fetal Monitoring

This heatmap is taken from Amplifire’s reporting dashboard and shows the clinicians sorted by their amounts of confidently held misinformation, uncertainty, and proficiency.