Laurence E. Shields, MD; Suzanne Wiesner, RN, MBA; Catherine Klein, RN, CNM;
Barbara Pelletreau, RN, MPH; Herman L. Hedriana, MD
BACKGROUND: Maternal mortality in the United States has increased
unabated for the past 20 years. Maternal morbidity is also affecting an
increasingly large number of women in the United States. A number of
national and state organizations have recommend the use of maternal
early warning tools as a method to combat this problem. There are limited
data suggesting that the use of these types of clinical assessment tools can
reduce maternal morbidity.
OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine if maternal morbidity could be
reduced with the implementation of a clinical pathway-specific Maternal
Early Warning Trigger (MEWT) tool.