Never Alone Perinatal Palliative Care Program

Ludden, Eileen

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Title: Never Alone Perinatal Palliative Care Program

Woodrow Wilson (Gaylord National Harbor)

Eileen Ludden, RNC, BSN , Labor and Delivery, Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring, MD

Nancy Wood, BSN, RNC, CDE , High Risk Perinatal Center - Gestational Diabetes Education Program, Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring, MD

Discipline: Childbearing (CB)

Learning Objectives:

Identify the need for a Perinatal Palliative Care Program.
Identify resources available to aid in the development of a Perinatal Palliative Care Program.
Describe how to establish a Perinatal Palliative Care Program.

Submission Description:

Purpose for the program: The Never Alone Perinatal Palliative Care Program will provide support for the patient and family with a prenatal diagnosis (any serious or lethal diagnosis to the fetus or pregnant patient) while providing support to nursing and medical staff.

Proposed change: The Perinatal Palliative Care Program was an under utilized program and there was a lack of knowledge of what support could be provided.

Implementation, outcomes and evaluation: Conducted knowledge survey about the program and evaluated results. Developed education program for the nursing and medical staff and the community. Created brochure with a "name" to describe program. Developed fact sheet for physicians and birth plans for the patients and their families. Within two months, increased referrals to program from 0 to 5.

Implications for nursing practice: Increase knowledge about the Never Alone Perinatal Palliative Care Program and the support it will provide to the patient, their family, nursing and medical staff. It allows the nursing and medical staff to be better prepared to care for and support these patients and their families at a very vulnerable time of their lives.

Keywords: Never Alone, Perinatal Palliative Care