Overview
Southern NSW Clinical Midwifery Consultants (CMCs) have been using the QIDS MatIQ system during 2022 to evaluate quality and safety across Southern NSW LHD maternity services. Easy access to current maternal and newborn data prevents any concerning changes in outcomes from flying under the radar. Rebecca Bowman (District Midwifery Manager, Southern NSW LHD) promptly identified an increase in the rate of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears and immediate steps were taken to investigate and mitigate any contributory factors, identified following close examination of the QIDS MatIQ data gained from the trend.
[It] Arouses curiosity and motivates clinicians to provide safe and high-quality care. [It] helps the team to celebrate achievements and identify areas for improvement.
QIDS MatIQ was introduced to Southern NSW LHD CMCs and Maternity Service managers following an educational and coaching program on its use in evaluating safety and quality in women's and newborn health care. It has stimulated interest across the four Southern NSW sites and next steps include extending training to all midwifery educators and leadership.
This has been the start of a mutually beneficial partnership between Southern NSW LHD and the CEC MatIQ team with user feedback from Southern NSW being welcomed to enhance system MatIQ functionality for its clinician users.
It's exciting to have data easily accessible and up to date.
CEC expertise
The CMC team have enjoyed collaborating with the CEC QIDS MatIQ team. They have appreciated the QIDS MatIQ team's accessibility for troubleshooting and ongoing education. They have also appreciated input on how to interpret their data and how to optimise their data searches.
It has been a pleasure to support teams such as Southern NSW to use QIDS MatIQ. Their enthusiasm for up-to-date maternity data to support local practice changes has been palpable and the results will speak for themselves.
Ella Qin, Sadia Arfana, Michal Stoj, and Saidul Karim of the CEC's data team
A safer system
Use of QIDS MatIQ identified a spike in third- and fourth-degree perineal tears over a period of three months. As a result, Southern NSW LHD CMCs used QIDS MatIQ to 'drill down' the data to review detail in individual cases at a local level.
The data review enabled:
- Timely sharing of up-to-date, easily interpretable data with clinicians and the midwifery leadership team
- Increased awareness of the issue
- Implementation of guideline review
- Improvement in practice, and
- Education of caregivers.
The CMCs value the accessibility of the medical and midwifery QIDS MatIQ leads at the CEC – giving them support to get the most out of the system.
We have been able to identify concerning changes in a very timely way and implement improvement strategies to reverse the change.
Meets Future Health priorities:
- Safe care is delivered across all settings
Meets CEC Strategic Plan priorities:
- Safety culture with accountability
- Safety intelligence
People
The CEC team:
- Dr James Mackie – Medical Director Patient Safety
- Dr Felicity Gallimore – Medical Clinical Co-Lead, QIDS Maternity Safety Intelligence System
- Julianne Jones – Midwife, Maternity Safety Action Dashboard
The CEC's data management team
Our Southern NSW Local Health District partners:
- Hannah Bird – Clinical Midwifery Consultant
- Rebekah Bowman – District Midwifery Manager
- Jenny Flaherty – Clinical Midwifery Consultant.
The Southern NSW Local Health District team on a virtual call