Joey Wahler (Host): It offers a wide variety of care. So we're discussing Beebe Healthcare's Women's and Children's Services. Our guest is Bridget Buckaloo. She's Executive Director of Women's and Children's Services. This is the Beebe Healthcare podcast. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Joey Wahler. Hi there, Bridget. Welcome.

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: Hi, Joey. Thank you.

Host: Thank you. Great to have you aboard. So first, tell us a little bit about your professional background and your role as Head of Women's and Children's Services.

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: Well, thank you for the ask. I have been in the perinatal sector of nursing for almost 39 years, and I started out in a antepartum unit as a nurse, having come from a med surg background, but always knew that my passion was maternal child health of some sort. And so I was introduced, to a high risk obstetric environment and just hungry and eager and ate up as much as I could in terms of knowledge and that position led me to another position which opened another door. And I've just had really, great professional opportunities including bedside nurse as a labor and delivery nurse, including a research coordinator in the division of maternal fetal medicine, where I got to publish.

I got to travel, be exposed to a lot of nationally recognized experts in perinatal medicine and then, segued into nursing leadership and, have been in leadership in some form or another since that time. I spend a lot of time on the state level representing Beebe Healthcare. Various statewide committees, including our Delaware Perinatal Quality Collaborative, which is a hospital-based quality improvement group.

All the birthing hospitals have representation and our mission is to help hospitals implement evidence-based standards of care to improve maternal and child outcomes, and to decrease severe maternal morbidity and mortality. I also sit on a fetal mortality review panel, and another technical expert panel, in the perinatal sphere.

So, have had a very wide career, but a lot of really great exposure. Met a lot of really excellent people along the way and experts, and continue to learn, every day.

Host: That's great. And so tell us in a nutshell what you do in a typical day if in your world there is such a thing as a typical day, right.

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: Okay. Wow. So one thing that's consistent is we are very much quality and safety organized here at Beebe Healthcare. So every day we have a safety huddle that's attended by, all of our leaders in the organization where we go department to department querying whether there's any safety concerns.

 We also, provide a lot of recognition during those meetings, things that go really well. If there's any concerns, it gives everybody, situational awareness as well as it gives us a chance to address, issues that may be of concern that need to be escalated. So that's how my day starts. And then I start what I jokingly refer to as making circles and, start rounding on my various departments. Checking in, checking in with my nurse managers, my team leads, charge nurses making sure that, they have everything they need to do their job for the day. And certainly addressing any concerns.

 I round on patients, just to touch base and, validate that they're getting excellent care and, hearing any of their concerns or kudos. Harvesting recognition is not difficult. It's, genuinely volunteered. So that's, really good and I can share that feedback with my teams.

And, and then we have some really big projects going on here now. We're in the middle of an Epic build, so, I have a lot of different meetings related to that and making sure that that content aligns with the work that we do currently. I might be reviewing policies. Yeah, it's, not the same every day, that's for sure.

Host: Certainly sounds like it. So you mentioned that it was a big passion of yours from the start, and a big part of your department is of course, labor and delivery. So in a nutshell, what can you tell us about your staff when it comes to those services?

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: Well, I love to brag about that because as I mentioned, as a leader, rounding on patients is really important and 99% of the time, entering the room and introducing myself, they just volunteer that they have had a great experience and they compliment the team and how wonderful they are.

And the one thing that is resounding is that they always say, we can tell that your staff love what they do. And so I think, that the patients feel that, they see it, they feel it, they've experienced it, and it helps them to have a really good patient experience, which I think we pride ourselves on in providing that really great patient experience.

We spend a lot of time doing simulation training for various obstetrical emergencies so that, as things come up, they're prepared. They've done it, they've done it in a simulation lab, we kind of do insitu simulation. So we're always looking to, keep them at the top of their skills.

And, because in the labor and delivery world, you never know what's going to happen. So we kind of keep that mindset that we're always ready. Right. We're ready. We're prepared. We are ready to recognize things, and we're ready to respond. But I think at the heart of it, they all love what they do. They love this sphere and it's obvious to the patients, which is an asset.

Host: I want to ask you a little bit more about that because indeed those working in labor and delivery are typically very passionate about it. It's clear when you deal with those people that it's more than just a job. This is not for someone that just wants to punch in and punch out, so to speak. Right? You really have to love it.

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: That is very true. And my experience has showed me too that, with various new people that come, you either love it or you don't. And those that come in thinking that they might love it, spend a little bit of time and, if they don't, they're eager to, either go back to where they came from or to try something new.

But I would say typically the labor and delivery environment, has a lot of longevity. People that, find that passion tend to stay here for a long time. We have very little turnover in our team, and if we do have turnover in our team, it's typically because they're advancing their career.

They're going on to be a midwife or a nurse practitioner, or they're relocating or they're going back to school for something else. It's not because they don't like the work.

Host: So Beebe Healthcare is in fact considered a baby friendly hospital. You mentioned for one thing that it's always a goal to be ready for anything, and of course you have to be in that world. So what does that actually mean? I would imagine that's a big part of it.

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: So the baby friendly designated is a really big part. Somebody shared this with me years ago, and I think it's a great descriptor because everybody thinks it's all about breastfeeding, but really the baby friendly initiative is, essentially customer service through the eyes of a baby.

And so if you were a, newborn, what would you want? If you could talk, what would you ask for? And you'd ask for, evidence-based care. And you would ask for, best feeding practices, things that would be best for you, which is, time with your mother, not being separated from your mother.

And so that's part of the standards within baby friendly is that babies are not separated from their mothers. They're not put into nurseries anymore. That they spend that first hour of life skin to skin with their mom, which is evidence-based, and it regulates their temperature and their heart rate, and it kind of naturally draws them to that first feeding.

 Which if the mother chooses to breastfeed, that's optimal for that. And so we know that breastfeeding is best for babies. Not everybody chooses to do that, and that's okay. But there's so many benefits to it that the baby friendly initiative really supports that, but supports all mothers in their choice and how they choose to feed their baby.

Including if they choose a breast milk substitute, such as formula that they're preparing it safely for their baby and they're administering it in a safe way. So baby friendly is a lot about education, a lot of patient education. So, and we start that in the prenatal period so that patients come into the hospital and they're prepared.

 Their choices are going to be supported. And that, more importantly that that is, um, aimed at supporting that newborn in that environment.

Host: And you mentioned lactation and lactation consultants are another key part of all this, since that's among the things that mothers must deal with immediately after giving birth. Usually if all goes well, that's kind of job one, right? And if you're going through it for the first time, that lactation consultant is going to become your best friend for at least a few days, aren't they?

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: Yes. And I'm equally proud of them. I am so fortunate that we have an A team here. Our lactation program coordinator is passionate, and, really has kind of raised our programming to a different level. We just most recently received our redesignation for baby friendly, which is a very arduous process, a lot of data collection, a lot of patient interviews. So there's a lot that goes on with that. So she, in addition to, being a lactation consultant and rounding on patients and, doing visits, is also behind the scenes handling, that data collection and making sure that we're meeting the criteria for that designation. And everybody's involved. We are actually hosting a world breastfeeding event on August 1st. And, the theme this year is called Powered by Breast Milk, and so we invite the community, we invite former patients, we invite moms who may be intending to breastfeed and offer a lot of education and fun.

You can bring your kids. We are the only hospital in Delaware that is actually doing that or sponsoring an event similar to that. I'd also like to note that Beebe was the first birthing hospital in Delaware to get the baby friendly designation. And our team actually supports some of the other facilities that either are pursuing it or, have the designation but might struggle with meeting some of the criteria to maintain that.

So, it's a big network. But we're really proud of having that designation. And this is actually the second time that we've been re-designated, so that's pretty significant.

Host: Well, congratulations on that. Before we go any further. Absolutely. So going into labor, as you well know, can be very stressful, even under the very best of circumstances, not just for the expectant mom, but for entire families at times as well. So what does your staff do to help manage that? What would you say the approach or the philosophy is that is the common thread among your staff?

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: I believe that they recognize that support person. And that support person could be different. It's not always a husband or, a partner. It could be, any other family member. So I think kind of making that distinguishment of, who is this person to you and why are they important and including them.

Including them in the education, including them, in the education of how to support them. Not everybody has the ability to take a childbirth preparation course, and if they don't, then the nurses become that childbirth educator, and really encouraging that support person to be there.

And supporting them as well, offering coffee or water or, juice or a snack, something like that. We recognize that we gotta keep that support person, maintained to be able to provide that.

Host: A couple of other things for you. First, how would you say Beebe Healthcare's collaboration with Nemours Children's Health has impacted pediatric care overall at the hospital?

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: I think we've definitely, elevated that level of care, with the Nemours providers. They're here, they're in-house, they're on site. They provide consultation to the emergency department where they may not have had that consistency. There was always a community pediatric provider available, but they weren't always in-house.

So having that provider in-house, presents a different level of support that we didn't have previously. And they're also in the newborn space, so we also have a team of neonatal nurse practitioners. So you see the hospitalists collaborating with the neonatal nurse practitioners and you're really kind of getting double, support for our newborns and, for the pediatric population, we've actually been able to keep patients here, patients that might have typically been transferred from the emergency department to Nemours in Wilmington, we're now able to keep them here. And that really was the goal. A, to provide that level of support, but also to keep care close to home.

So, we were eager for the community to get that message so that they can have that confidence, when they come to the emergency room, if their child needs to be admitted, they have this reputable set of providers and, may avoid having to travel several hours just to get that care for their child.

Host: And then in summary, what's your overall message to those joining us about what patients can expect from Women's and Children's Services at Beebe Healthcare? You've covered a lot of ground in terms of some of the specifics. What do you really hang your hat on that you want people to know no matter what they are going to experience when they come through the doors?

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: I want them to know that we, number one, we have an excellent patient experience. We may be small, but we're mighty and we do big things. I want them to know that we focus on excellence and that meaning in terms of, evidence-based, standards of care, very focused on nursing education.

We are, using our educator and other members of our team, it seems like we're constantly doing it, but we're didactic sessions and webinars and online learning and in-person education, but just trying to keep them up to date. We want them to be schooled on those standards of care.

A, to understand the why behind certain interventions that they're doing, but also so that they can translate that to a patient. But I think, we have like we were talking about earlier, people that love what they do, and I think that that's really critical and it's obvious.

I also think we have an excellent team of providers. There's a lot of great collaboration and I think that that's something that, naturally comes with being a smaller facility that you are in these spaces with these providers more regularly. It kind of provides a natural space to, have a conversation outside of just a clinical conversation.

You really get to know each other. So you build a trust. It's a collegial environment, which goes a long way so that there's not a lot of adversity, and that you're comfortable, approaching a provider, and a provider may be comfortable, approaching a nurse as well to have some dialogue about patient care.

So I think that we have a lot of excellent people, and a great patient experience. And we have great quality metrics when you look at our outcomes. One of our features is that we were recognized by US News and World Report as being a maternity access hospital. There wasn't another hospital in Delaware with that recognition, and that is based on a lot of the quality metrics that we have.

So I think that that speaks volume and I just want the community to be confident that when they come to Beebe Healthcare for any maternal child service or even women's health, that they're going to get great care in a caring environment with caring and supportive team members.

Host: And in closing here, it's interesting that you mention the word confident there at the end because as a recent first time father of now a soon to be 3-year-old daughter, I can tell you that that post-delivery staff gave my wife and myself so much confidence to be able to go home and get everything off on the right foot because you're so unsure of what to do, going through it for the first time.

When it comes time to take that baby and head into the car and go home, you're like almost ready to say to the staff, wait, you mean you're not coming with us? Come on.

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: Yes. I can relate.

Host: It's great to be able to look back on it and laugh now. Well folks, we trust you are now more familiar with Beebe Healthcare's Women's and Children's Services. Bridget, keep up all your great work, you and yours, and thanks so much again.

Bridget Buckaloo, MSN, RN: Thank you.

Host: And to learn more about having your baby at Beebe or to find out more about their lactation classes, please call the Women's Health Nurse Navigator at 844-316-3330.

 Now, if you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. I'm Joey Wahler, and thanks so much again for being part of the Beebe Healthcare Podcast.