Implementation of Prenatal Services in a Rural Setting

Adequate prenatal care is an essential component of optimizing outcomes for both mother and baby. Prenatal care in rural areas is not always as easily accessible as compared to urban areas. Due to several smaller hospitals across the United States either closing completely or discontinuing their labor and delivery services, there has been an increased focus on the health disparity of rural women pertaining to prenatal care. Rural communities lack specialty providers, and rely on family practice providers to deliver necessary health care to patients of all ages. This practice improvement project (PIP) focused on implementing evidence-based guidelines for prenatal care in a rural Minnesota community. Through implementation of the PIP, rural family practice providers were educated on evidence-based guidelines for prenatal care, as well as certain conditions that the Obstetrics and Gynecology department would manage in an urban setting. Another aspect of the PIP was to develop relationships with the closest hospitals that have the capability of delivering babies, in which the patients of the rural clinic would be referred to for delivery. Demographics and patient preferences are factors affecting where a patient chooses to deliver. Project implementation was comprised of educational sessions which included nursing staff and the medical staff, as well as networking with the three other hospitals involved that have the capability of delivering babies. To assess the effectiveness of the PIP implementation, education completion rates, referral processes, and patient visits were tracked