Establishing communication with relatives of admitted obstetrical patients with COVID-19 infection during COVID-19 pandemic: A quality improvement initiative

Abstract

Objectives: To establish communication with relatives of obstetrical patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) admitted to an isolation ward by systematic use of quality improvement tools during the COVID-19 pandemic as there were many challenges in communicating with relatives.

Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a tertiary-care teaching hospital based on four systematic steps of Point of Care Improvement methodology. After identifying the problem, a quality improvement team was constituted, which formed a specific aim. After root-cause analysis with fishbone tool, three Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles with various interventions were planned.

Results: The outcome was measured as percentage of relatives of obstetrical patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 who were counseled about vital patient-related information. The baseline percentage of counseling of relatives of COVID-19-positive obstetrical patients admitted to the hospital was 14% per day. After three PDSA cycles, the target of 66.5% was achieved.

Conclusion: Communication with the relatives of COVID-19-positive obstetrical patients admitted to isolation wards in the hospital could be easily streamlined without any additional resources using the principles of quality improvement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; communication; plan-do-study-act (PDSA); quality improvement.