April 2013
Beth
Mastriani
,
RN
Perinatal Programs
Good Samaritan Hospital
Cincinnati
,
OH
United States
I have had the pleasure of working with Beth for the past three years. Beth is integral to the success of TriHealth's Preterm Labor Prevention Program. Beth participates in a weekly team meeting held to address the needs of the high risk OB patients the Faculty Medical Center.
Each week Beth refers patients to me who are at risk for preterm birth or have had a history of preterm birth. It is crucial that these patients be identified in a timely manner so that treatments to help reduce preterm birth risk such as 17P can be offered to the patients. When this program was reestablished three years ago very few referrals were being made to the program. My repeated requests to staff to be notified of patients with a history of preterm birth fell on deaf ears. I shared my frustration at not being able to reach the patients who could benefit from preterm labor prevention case management services with Beth. That very day Beth willingly offered to start making referrals to the program as she was having contact with the patients during clinic daily and provides valuable education and information for each and every patient she sees. Taking the extra step to find out if a patient is eligible for the program can be time consuming and Beth has never complained about it. Referrals to the program have doubled since Beth agreed to help with this arduous task. She has even stepped up and agreed to give a 17P injection when no one else was available.
This is so important to the health of our community and patients in that there are now twice as many patients who are being identified and given the chance to start 17P therapy and have the additional education needed to help prevent premature birth. Preterm births cost citizens an average of $54,000 versus $5,000 for a regular birth. The Preterm Labor Prevention Program has an average term rate of about 65%. This translates into a huge savings and prevention of a lifetime of health problems for our community because of the many people who are now being given the resources and opportunity to reduce their risk for preterm birth. Beth's commitment to helping identify and educate our patients at risk exemplifies "the super human work done by nurses every day."
Each week Beth refers patients to me who are at risk for preterm birth or have had a history of preterm birth. It is crucial that these patients be identified in a timely manner so that treatments to help reduce preterm birth risk such as 17P can be offered to the patients. When this program was reestablished three years ago very few referrals were being made to the program. My repeated requests to staff to be notified of patients with a history of preterm birth fell on deaf ears. I shared my frustration at not being able to reach the patients who could benefit from preterm labor prevention case management services with Beth. That very day Beth willingly offered to start making referrals to the program as she was having contact with the patients during clinic daily and provides valuable education and information for each and every patient she sees. Taking the extra step to find out if a patient is eligible for the program can be time consuming and Beth has never complained about it. Referrals to the program have doubled since Beth agreed to help with this arduous task. She has even stepped up and agreed to give a 17P injection when no one else was available.
This is so important to the health of our community and patients in that there are now twice as many patients who are being identified and given the chance to start 17P therapy and have the additional education needed to help prevent premature birth. Preterm births cost citizens an average of $54,000 versus $5,000 for a regular birth. The Preterm Labor Prevention Program has an average term rate of about 65%. This translates into a huge savings and prevention of a lifetime of health problems for our community because of the many people who are now being given the resources and opportunity to reduce their risk for preterm birth. Beth's commitment to helping identify and educate our patients at risk exemplifies "the super human work done by nurses every day."