Dr. Dena Goffman believes that better maternal care requires a proactive, system-wide approach and is making her vision a reality at NewYork-Presbyterian. How? She focuses on implementing guidelines that standardize care across all of NewYork-Presbyterian’s hospitals. Dr. Goffman has also aided in FDA approval and adoption of a new, ingenious anti-hemorrhage tool and embraced simulations to train and improve the skills of healthcare professionals throughout the labor and delivery process. Her work across the hospital system has helped to set goals and create quality standards making labor and delivery safer for patients.
It has been widely reported over the past ten to fifteen years that maternal mortality and morbidity in the US is on the rise. Dr. Dena Goffman has made it her personal goal to improve those numbers across the entire NewYork-Presbyterian health system. But how can one begin to tackle such a large and challenging issue? Dr. Goffman focuses on systematic shifts. She worked to set obstetrics goals across the entire hospital system, created new guidelines and utilized simulations to train and improve the skills of healthcare workers to be prepared for any situation. And she wasn’t afraid to use every tool in her toolbox, even new ones like an ingenious anti-hemorrhage device that she helped gain FDA approval. In this episode, Dr. Goffman shares what real systemic change for maternal fetal care looks like and how she is hoping these standards can help reverse the trends in maternal mortality across the country.
