Psychosocial Care of Pregnancy Loss in the Emergency Department

Emergency departments in the United States manage nearly 900,000 visits annually for early pregnancy loss. Patients frequently report limited emotional support, inadequate provider knowledge, and insufficient communication.

A pre- and postintervention design was used to assess ED staff knowledge, attitudes, and supportive care skills related to reproductive grief. Demographic data were collected. Paired t tests evaluated changes across 7 educational domains.

The analytic sample (N = 39) consisted of chaplains (7.7%), nurses (61.6%), patient care assistants (7.7%), radiology technicians (5.1%), social workers (5.1%), and ED technicians (12.8%). Postintervention analyses demonstrated increased mean scores across all domains, including emotional support, patient-centered care, discharge planning, bereavement care, community resources, staff support, and communication (P < .0001).

The findings suggest that staff education may improve miscarriage care. Additional research is necessary to confirm these results, establish validity, and assess generalizability across settings.