Obstetric Hemorrhage Education in the United States Survey of Current Efforts and Policy Options

To characterize efforts to improve obstetric hemorrhage education by state health departments and to evaluate them for guiding public policy.

A survey with questions about maternal mortality/hemorrhage assessments and hemorrhage education for health professionals was emailed to public health officials in all 50 states. Follow-up phone calls and emails were sent over 5 months to maximize participation. A nationwide initiative for educating health professionals in treating chest pain was also examined.

Responses were received from 34 states; 31 had legislative or regulatory requirements for identification and/or investigation of maternal deaths. Obstetric hemorrhage education among states is voluntary with the exception of Illinois, which had a regulatory require- ment. In contrast, a nationwide voluntary accreditation program for chest pain had over 1,000 accredited centers in the 10 years or so since being established.

Only a few states had. voluntary efforts in place for obstetric hemorrhage education. A sin- gle state, Illinois, has a. mandatory education require- ment. A voluntary niodel of accreditation based on the example of Chest Pain Centers might serve as a faster way to provide education to large numbers of health pro- fessionals.