The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Visit Hackensack University Medical Center

The New Jersey Perinatal Quality Collaborative (NJPQC) recently met with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center for the annual update to the agency, which funds the NJPQC work.

Chairs Andrew Rubenstein. M.D. and Robyn D’Oria, MA, RNC, APN, provided a comprehensive overview of the state of maternal health and perinatal safety priorities in New Jersey and a site visit of a New Jersey hospital.

“During the site visit to Hackensack University Medical Center, we highlighted some of the successes we’ve had in the reduction of Caesarean births, along with additional patient safety and quality initiatives,” said Dr. Rubenstein, section chief of Obstetrics, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hackensack University Medical Center and chair, Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey, Total Quality Improvement (TCI) Committee.

The CDC has 13 perinatal collaboratives. The goal of the National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaborative (NNPQC) is for all states to have a PQC in order to improve patient safety and quality across the country and standardize obstetrical practices. The steering committee has placed priority in six areas including Nulliparous Term Singleton Vertex (NTSV) C-sections; the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) initiative; Post-Partum Hemorrhage and Hypertension; opioid use in mothers and neonatal abstinence syndrome; patient and family engagement; and disparities in care.

On November 1, the inaugural Maternal Health and Perinatal Safety Symposium will be held in Newark at the Robert Treat Hotel. Sponsored by the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey and Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center, topics of discussion include Maternal Morbidity and Perinatal Safety, reduction for peripartum racial disparities; re-engineer electronic fetal monitoring; modified early obstetrical warning system; and maternal mental health.

About Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center

Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center, a 781-bed nonprofit teaching and research hospital located in Bergen County, NJ, is the largest provider of inpatient and outpatient services in the state. Founded in 1888 as the county’s first hospital, it is now part of one of the largest networks in the state comprised of 33,000 team members and more than 6,500 physicians. Hackensack University Medical Center was listed as one of the top two hospitals in New Jersey in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018-19 Best Hospital rankings. It was also named one of the top five New York Metro Area hospitals. Hackensack University Medical Center is one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more years in a row. Becker’s Hospital Review recognized Hackensack University Medical Center as one of the 100 Great Hospitals in America 2018. The medical center is one of the top 25 green hospitals in the country according to Practice Greenhealth, and received 25 Gold Seals of Approval™ by The Joint Commission – more than any other hospital in the country. It was the first hospital in New Jersey and second in the nation to become a Magnet® recognized hospital for nursing excellence; receiving its fifth consecutive designation in 2014. Hackensack University Medical Center has created an entire campus of award-winning care, including: the John Theurer Cancer Center; the Heart & Vascular Hospital; and the Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Women’s and Children’s Pavilion, which houses the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital and Donna A. Sanzari Women’s Hospital, which was designed with The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center and listed on the Green Guide’s list of Top 10 Green Hospitals in the U.S. Hackensack University Medical Center is the Hometown Hospital of the New York Giants and the New York Red Bulls and is Official Medical Services Provider to The Northern Trust PGA Golf Tournament. It remains committed to its community through fundraising and community events especially the Tackle Kids Cancer Campaign providing much needed research at the Children’s Cancer Institute housed at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital. To learn more, visit www.HackensackUMC.org.

About the New Jersey Perinatal Quality Collaborative

The New Jersey Perinatal Quality Collaborative is statewide partnership of committed stakeholders working together to improve the quality and safety of care provided New Jersey’s mothers and babies. Our work is funded in thanks to a grant of up to $1 million over the course of five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The New Jersey Perinatal Quality Collaborative is one of 13 state organizations awarded funding from the CDC to improve the quality of perinatal care.

The New Jersey PQC is led by the New Jersey Hospital Association’s Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET).