Coordinated Follow-Up Care for Families with Newborn Babies in Switzerland: Engaging Independent Midwives in a Participative Project

Kurth, Elisabeth

Saturday, 29 October 2011

Elisabeth Kurth, RM, MNS, PhD¹
Ann Marie Brooks, RN, MBA²
Beatrice Friedli, RNM, MAS¹
Elisabeth Zemp Stutz, MD, MPH³
Cornelia Conzelmann-Auer, MD, MPH⁴
Eva Cignacco, RM, MNS, PhD⁵
(1)Institute of Midwifery, Zürich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland
(2)Main Line Health System - Riddle Memorial Hospital, Newtown Square, PA
(3)Gender and Health, Epidemiology & Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
(4)Schweizerisches Komitee für UNICEF, Zürich, Switzerland
(5)Institute of Nursing Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Learning Objective 1: The learner will understand the benefits of applying a bottom up approach in a leadership project.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to describe the organization of midwifery home services in Switzerland

Background

After childbirth families experience fragmented care which is not coordinated between the involved professional groups. In 2012, DRG based reimbursement is introduced in Switzerland and will lead to earlier discharge of new mothers and babies. Follow up care is not guaranteed by the current care system.

Purpose

To develop coordinated, safe and need-oriented postnatal care provision by independent midwives and other involved professional groups.

Projects Activities

Based on the leadership model of Kouzes and Posner we engaged independent midwives to develop a concept for coordinated postnatal care in a bottom-up approach

1^st step: Needs analysis (Sept. 2010-Sept. 2011)

Expert interviews with postnatal care providers’ and focus group study to capture users’s needs

2^nd step: Development of a coordinated postnatal care model (May 2011-March 2012)

Workshop with local midwives to develop a model of coordinated midwifery domiciliary care. Project team then elaborates a final model and clarifies the coordination of care provision with other professional care givers.

3^rd step: Realization coordinated care model in pilot project (March 2012-Sept 2012)

The new care model is implemented in a pilot project. The implementation phase is evaluated and the model is optimized based on the evaluation’s results.

Project’s impact

· On independent midwives: 46 local midwives registered to joint workshop, they embrace the aim to guarantee postnatal follow-up care for ALL families in the region.

· On families with newborn babies: 90% of the yearly 4000 childbearing families in the region of Basel shall profit of coordinated and need-oriented postnatal care.

· On interdisciplinary coordination: Professional networks and coordination is build up with maternity clinics, health visitors, pediatricians and gynecologists

Discussion

By changing the postnatal care system from uncoordinated services to a coordinated family-oriented care provision the project contributes to a healthy start for the newborn, the mother and the family.

See more of: Poster Session I - Maternal Child Health Leadership Academy Invited Posters
See more of: Invited Posters