Transcription:
Safe In Our Care - Expectant Mothers

Introduction: It's Your Health Radio, a special podcast series presented by Henry Mayo, Newhall Hospital. Here's Melanie Cole.

Melanie Cole: Women are understandably concerned about giving birth during these unprecedented times. Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. I'm Melanie Cole and today, we're discussing the safety precautions for women giving birth at Henry Mayo during this time. Joining me is Amanda Patey. She's the Clinical Manager for the Center for Women and Newborns, Maternal and Child Health Services at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Amanda, thank you so much for joining us first. Let me ask you, how is this virus affecting pregnant women? What do we know thus far about the impact of COVID-19 in pregnancy and what are some of the most common concerns you are hearing from pregnant women?

Amanda Patey: So, I think that we're in this new space, this isn't something that there's a ton of research on. It's constantly changing and evolving and our resources are changing and evolving and updating. So the impact on pregnant women is cropping up with new evidence every month. Depending on the area of medicine you're in, you're getting updates weekly, monthly, just tons of new information coming out, but it is complicated to study women and babies and maternal child medicine, because we're obviously so concerned for their wellbeing. So we're seeing that I think our best angle is education and prevention and how we care for them in the hospital. We don't see evidence of transmitting the virus through the placenta. So from the mom directly to the baby, you see transmission of the virus happening via caregivers. So in the practices of the family and the parents, and when they go home, that's when you're seeing the virus transmitted.

Host: Wow. And it's such an exciting time and such a shame that women have to be nervous at this time. So tell us how your practice has evolved to provide care for your patients while keeping them safe. Tell us how you're handling routine office visits, televisits, what are you doing?

Amanda Patey: We have things happening on all fronts as patients come into the hospital. And even as they prepare to give birth, depending on the kind of birth they're going to have. They have COVID testing done previsit, predelivery, if they're having a scheduled induction or C-section. If they're just walking in off the street in labor, we are carefully screening them as they come into the hospital, we're screening their support person that comes in with them. We're performing temperature checks, putting every precaution in place to keep everybody safe. Every caregiver is masked. We ask that every patient and visitor also wears the mask for everybody's protection. We want to protect our families coming in and we also need to protect our providers so they can continue providing care with that bed. We do offer versions of telehealth through our lactation support. So in the hospital we can provide in person support, but after discharge, we have the ability to provide telemedicine with our lactation support outpatient. So that's been a big benefit to our community as well.

Host: Please clear up a myth for us, Amanda, that it's safer to give birth at a birthing center because you might get COVID. If you give birth at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, speak about why it's so important to give birth in a hospital right now and why it might be riskier all around to give birth at a birthing center.

Amanda Patey: Yes. Thank you for asking that question. And that is something I'm so passionate about because the biggest reason to deliver in a hospital is the resources you have available to you in the specialty teams of people you have available to you when something doesn't go as planned. So if an emergency happens with your baby, whether it is leading up to the delivery or after the delivery, we have providers in place to care for you and for your baby and those minutes and seconds. And the transition time getting from an outside birthing center to the hospital, those are the minutes that matter. So it's the difference between saving a baby's life and not saving a baby's life, unfortunately.

Host: So what do you say to women that are worried that their doctors, even their obstetricians might be diverted in an emergency setting or may not be available when they're delivering, tell us a little bit about some of the protocols that you have in place for women coming in to deliver their babies. And as far as visitors and really what you're doing?

Amanda Patey: For providers being available, we have hospitalists coverage, 24/7. So if your provider, for some reason, cannot get to the hospital, there will be a qualified physician here to support you either way. When a woman comes in in labor, we talked about the screening process that starts at the beginning entrance of the hospital. They bring their support person with them in our maternity services and our neonatal area, we still allow a support person to be available. We believe that it is an important and necessary part of the birthing process. So if a woman is walking in and labor, they have their support person with them. They both receive a temperature check, a touchless temperature, check at the entrance of the hospital. They are then brought up to the Center for Women's and Newborns, where they are screened again by our staff and a screening, meaning a questionnaire.

If they've been in contact with anybody, have they traveled outside of the United States in the last few weeks, things like that, then they are brought to their room. Through that process, all of their caregivers and people they encounter will be masked. We ask that anyone walking through the hospital doors is wearing a mask. And from there they will be in a labor room that is private. So it will just be them and their support person and any staff that's necessary through the process. After delivery, our postpartum rooms there, again, all private, we do ask that the mother and support person wear a mask when feasible and since our rooms are private, they will have plenty of time to take their masks off when the door is closed. And they can have their own initial bonding time. But when caregivers are present, we do ask them to wear a mask as well.

Host: Amanda, where does the baby stay the first few nights? And what if the mom tests positive for COVID what's different then?

Amanda Patey: We do have a separate COVID area for our maternity services. So if a mom was COVID positive, we have a special area to care for them and the baby and the recommendation was previously to separate mom and baby. The American Academy of pediatrics just came out with some new evidence. So we're currently reviewing that practice to see if going back to couplet care is the way to go. Obviously that is going to be based on how well the mom is, how symptomatic she is and how COVID is impacting her birth and recovery process.

Host: As of now, are visitors allowed to see baby in those first few days, or is it not recommended at all? No visitors in the hospital?

Amanda Patey: No visitors in the hospital, except for the dedicated support person.

Host: And what if baby has to be in the NICU, can parents visit while the baby's in there?

Amanda Patey: Parents can still visit in the NICU. We are limiting it to one parent at a time, and that is a common practice throughout the country right now to limit visitation and just for the safety of the baby and the caregivers.

Host: And this is such an important topic. Amanda, as we wrap up, aside from the physical health of the mother, there's so much concern about the mental health during isolation and certainly for expectant parents. What would you like them to know about the safety and the protocols that you've put in place? So they can safely deliver at such a wonderful time at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

Amanda Patey: We just want them to know that we have teams of people dedicated to evidence and research and current practices, and we're constantly reevaluating how we can improve, how we can change and update given the current climate. So we are dedicated to providing safe care for the mom and the baby, and we really want them to feel secure in the fact that delivering a hospital with resources and with the teams available to them is really the best thing, the safest thing, and the most important thing, for their delivery process.

Host: Thank you so much, Amanda, for joining us and encouraging and reinforcing the safety protocols that Henry Mayo is doing to keep the community and especially expectant parents safe. Thank you again for joining us. For more information on the Center for Women and Newborns, Maternal and Child Health Services at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, please visit Henrymayo.com/newborns. That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and all the other Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital podcasts. I'm Melanie Cole.