Presentation
Using Patient Journey Mapping to Design More Equitable Maternal Care
DescriptionIn the United States (US) giving birth is the most common cause of hospitalization with over 3.8 million births annually. Furthermore, the perinatal period including the prenatal, intrapartum and postpartum phases often represents a woman’s first experience of prolonged interactions with the healthcare system, outside of chronic conditions. Systems investigations have identified that maternal care is currently lacking, and failing patients, most specifically women and birthing people of colour. Currently, maternal care is uneven and fragmented and lacks flexibility and responsiveness to cater to individual needs. Prior research has demonstrated that structural factors, psychosocial factors, and patient attitudes including perceptions of discrimination contribute to poor prenatal care. Intrapartum and postpartum care have been found to provide patients with a lack of guidance on critical health issues with care environments that do not support maternal recovery. Additionally, postpartum care may not be timely. These factors demonstrate an existing gap in the maternal care system which could lead to poor patient experience, poor quality of care, and adverse outcomes including maternal morbidity and mortality.
Patient Journey Mapping (PJM) is a tool that can be used to evaluate and visualize patients’ experience at different points during their healthcare encounters. PJM can be useful when studying patients receiving maternal care because their experiences can be analyzed at different points in their care process to get a full understanding of their entire maternal care experience. These experiences can then be visualized on a journey map that represents the patient’s journey through the healthcare system, showing both positive and negative experiences.
Hence, the objective of the research study is to map the journey of prenatal and postpartum patients through their maternal care journey to understand patients experiences and unmet needs in the care process to help inform a redesign of maternal care to improve safety, equity, responsiveness, and patient- centred care.
The research will map the journey of 12 patients, including 6 patients through the prenatal and 6 patients through the postpartum phases using data collected through surveys and interviews. The data collection will occur at a large academic hospital in Southeastern US. Racialized women will be oversampled. Surveys will be conducted using REDCap at multiple touchpoints during the prenatal and postpartum phases, and patients will be interviewed during each phase. Surveys will focus on prenatal and postpartum care experiences, whether patient expectations were met, education throughout patient care, and experiences of racism or discrimination during appointments. Interviews will be used to get a more in-depth understanding of patients’ care experience, continuity of care, resources and education provided, and their expectations.
To analyze the survey responses, demographic data including race/ethnicity, age, and number of births, will be summarized using descriptive statistics such as means, medians, and standard deviations. For interview data and qualitative survey data, we will use natural language processing through a textual analysis of professionally transcribed patient responses to identify the “pains” and “gains” of the patients’ experience. We will develop high-level journey maps which identify patients' main touch points throughout their prenatal and postpartum journey with the maternal care system and their health care providers. We will add the “pains” and “gains” to develop the patient journey maps, which represent a timeline of the patient’s journey, including events, touchpoints, pains, gains, and potential opportunities for each of the personas. The outcome includes 12 patient journey maps, representing each patient’s overall experience throughout their maternal health care journey.
Currently, the research team is in the process of recruiting participants and collecting data through surveys and interviews. The analysis will be conducted in March.
The pregnancy and postpartum journey represent a period of prolonged interactions with the healthcare system. However, research has demonstrated that the current maternal care system is unresponsive to individual needs, and is currently failing women, especially women of colour. Through developing a more thorough understanding of the maternal care patient journey, we can use PJM to understand patients unmet needs to support the redesign of maternal care systems to create more responsive care, improve patient safety and patient experiences.
Patient Journey Mapping (PJM) is a tool that can be used to evaluate and visualize patients’ experience at different points during their healthcare encounters. PJM can be useful when studying patients receiving maternal care because their experiences can be analyzed at different points in their care process to get a full understanding of their entire maternal care experience. These experiences can then be visualized on a journey map that represents the patient’s journey through the healthcare system, showing both positive and negative experiences.
Hence, the objective of the research study is to map the journey of prenatal and postpartum patients through their maternal care journey to understand patients experiences and unmet needs in the care process to help inform a redesign of maternal care to improve safety, equity, responsiveness, and patient- centred care.
The research will map the journey of 12 patients, including 6 patients through the prenatal and 6 patients through the postpartum phases using data collected through surveys and interviews. The data collection will occur at a large academic hospital in Southeastern US. Racialized women will be oversampled. Surveys will be conducted using REDCap at multiple touchpoints during the prenatal and postpartum phases, and patients will be interviewed during each phase. Surveys will focus on prenatal and postpartum care experiences, whether patient expectations were met, education throughout patient care, and experiences of racism or discrimination during appointments. Interviews will be used to get a more in-depth understanding of patients’ care experience, continuity of care, resources and education provided, and their expectations.
To analyze the survey responses, demographic data including race/ethnicity, age, and number of births, will be summarized using descriptive statistics such as means, medians, and standard deviations. For interview data and qualitative survey data, we will use natural language processing through a textual analysis of professionally transcribed patient responses to identify the “pains” and “gains” of the patients’ experience. We will develop high-level journey maps which identify patients' main touch points throughout their prenatal and postpartum journey with the maternal care system and their health care providers. We will add the “pains” and “gains” to develop the patient journey maps, which represent a timeline of the patient’s journey, including events, touchpoints, pains, gains, and potential opportunities for each of the personas. The outcome includes 12 patient journey maps, representing each patient’s overall experience throughout their maternal health care journey.
Currently, the research team is in the process of recruiting participants and collecting data through surveys and interviews. The analysis will be conducted in March.
The pregnancy and postpartum journey represent a period of prolonged interactions with the healthcare system. However, research has demonstrated that the current maternal care system is unresponsive to individual needs, and is currently failing women, especially women of colour. Through developing a more thorough understanding of the maternal care patient journey, we can use PJM to understand patients unmet needs to support the redesign of maternal care systems to create more responsive care, improve patient safety and patient experiences.
Event Type
Oral Presentations
TimeTuesday, March 261:30pm - 1:52pm CDT
LocationSalon A-3
Patient Safety Research and Initiatives