Improving maternal/infant health outcomes
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Last November, Creighton's Institute for Population Health demonstrated its commitment to improving mother and infant outcomes in Nebraska as a cosponsor of the Nebraska Maternal Child Health Summit in Lincoln. In addition, the Institute has partnered with CHI Health, Charles Drew Health Center, I Be Black Girl and A Mother’s Love, to launch a doula program to improve birth outcomes in the Omaha Metro area. One hundred fifty mothers will be enrolled in the program and matched with a doula of their choosing over the next three years.
The IPH is helping to conceptualize the delivery model to improve prenatal and post-natal outcomes for black mothers and will also evaluate the results of the pilot program.
The goals of the program include:
- Improving patient access to care, experience of care, social support and reduce barriers to optimal birth outcomes
- Reducing disparities in birth outcomes within the healthcare system and improve effective collaboration with doulas as part of the maternity care team
- Improving community collaboration to support and sustain equitable birth outcomes
As part of this effort, the team has convened a Maternal Health Task Force that includes Ashley Carroll, MPH, director of healthy communities and population health for the Institute and division director for of healthier communities and community benefit for CHI Health, Alejandra Rebolledo-Gomez, MSHP, community engagement coordinator for the Institute.
Creighton School of Pharmacy and Health Professions and School of Medicine faculty member Gary Elsasser, PharmD, vice chair and professor emeritus in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, serves as program advisor, School of Medicine faculty member Deyanna Boston, MD, assistant professor of family and community medicine who also practices family medicine with obstetrics at CHI Health Clinic Family Medicine-University Campus location, serves as physician champion for the program.
IPH Executive Director Scott Shipman, MD, MPH is the principal investigator. The institute will conduct a mixed-methods evaluation of the pilot program.
