Study: Rural obstetrics units need more support

Adoption of quality improvement processes for maternal health care was significantly higher in Oklahoma and Texas urban hospitals than rural ones, a study found. Published in the July/September issue of Quality Management in Health Care, the authors say the findings underscore the need to “reinforce support for rural obstetric units, which often face greater barriers to implementing patient safety and quality improvement processes than urban units.” Separately, a study published this week in JAMA Health Network found at-risk individuals may not receive cardiovascular health counseling during their postpartum visit. Roughly 60% of individuals with cardiovascular risk factors or adverse pregnancy outcomes reported receiving cardiovascular risk counseling at their postpartum visit. The rate of reporting cardiovascular risk counseling fell modestly over five years, the study found.