The current issue of Research Matters, Aurora Health Care's periodic report on its research activities, contains an article detailing the collaboration between the Center and the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care to improve birth outcomes in Wisconsin. The article is quoted below.
In an effort to improve birth outcomes, the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care partnered with the Center for Urban Population Health to develop PeriData.Net®, a comprehensive birth and labor data platform that has been instituted in 85 hospitals statewide.
The Web-based platform has provided better access to timely birth outcome data, links mother and infant health records, and results in flexible data management and reporting. Currently 12 Aurora hospitals are participating in PeriData.Net®. PeriData.Net® collects demographic, antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum data on more than 90% of Wisconsin births annually – totaling 300,000 births since the system launched.
During the past two years, collaboration between the Wisconsin Hospital Association, Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care and Center for Urban Population Health has added seven perinatal measures to the Wisconsin Hospital Association's existing CheckPoint initiative, a public reporting system that offers a transparent view of the performance of Wisconsin hospitals in key areas. This information promotes quality improvement efforts in participating hospitals across the state. Working with CheckPoint, PeriData.Net® has helped WHA expand the area in which it reports hospital performance.
PeriData.Net has been an essential component of the systemwide One Aurora Superior Standards for Obstetrics (OASIS) quality scorecard for obstetrics, OASIS tracks progress in obstetrics clinical quality indicators. The scorecard also assists in goal setting.
In 2010, the Center for Urban Population Health added new data fields to PeriData. Net to allow more detailed reporting on access to breast milk in neonatal intensive care units. In this collaboration, the Center for Urban Population Health partnered with the Wisconsin Neonatal Perinatal Quality Collaborative (WiNPQC) to create data fields focused on increasing breast milk use in infants weighing up to 1,500 grams. The Best Practices for Breast Milk Initiative, pioneered by WiNOQC, consists of NICUs in 16 hospitals currently engaged in quality improvement initiatives. Existing research has clearly indicated that providing infants with breast milk has resulted in better outcomes.
This infrastructure, developed by these collaborative research organizations, provides the tools for hospitals to plan, implement and evaluate their own quality improvement projects related to infant health. "We don't just build these structures to retain data," said Ron Cisler, PhD, director of the Center for Urban Population Health. "We are working with our partners to create the most updated, useful interface with data that can enable us to track improving patient outcomes in hospitals throughout the state. We see our efforts aligned with Aurora Health Care's dedication to improved care and better outcomes for infants and mothers, as well as all patients, statewide."
®PeriData.Net is a registered trademark of the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care.
