Implementing a Cardiovascular Screening Tool for High-Risk Pregnant Women in a Hospital Setting

To implement a cardiovascular screening tool in a hospital unit for high-risk pregnant women to determine if additional testing and specialty consultation were indicated.

Quality improvement project.

High-risk obstetrics unit of a U.S. Midwest 127-bed specialty hospital.

Women ages 19 years and older who were admitted to the high-risk obstetric care unit during February and March of 2020; staff registered nurses assigned to the women completed the screening tool upon women's admission to the unit.

Nursing implementation of a cardiovascular screening tool in women hospitalized on a high-risk unit. The Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Care was used for implementation to recruit staff, guide the intervention of the screening tool, and collect and analyze the data.

In a 2-month period of time, the cardiovascular screening tool was completed for 31 women. Four of the 31 women screened positive, indicating the need for clinicians to consider further testing and/or specialty consultation. The intervention identified pregnant women requiring additional interventions including testing and/or specialty consultation, which may not have occurred without the screening triggering such need.

Further research is needed to validate if routine screening of pregnant women using a cardiovascular screening tool will improve long-term outcomes for pregnant women.