At just three days old, Willow Davidson is on the way home from Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital with her proud new parents.

 “Being here was a very good experience,” says her mom Kristen. “I felt very well looked after at all times and everyone kept us informed of what was going on with her birth.”

Every year, approximately 800 babies like Willow enter the world at Soldiers’.

They are looked after by a team of professionals that may include doctors, midwives, nurses, respiratory therapists and others.

This year, the Birthing and New Family Services team is beginning an ambitious new three-year project to ensure the excellent care already provided will be even more comprehensive.

The program is called MORE-OB. It stands for Managing Obstetrical Risk Efficiently and is sponsored by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. MORE-OB recognizes patient safety as the fundamental principle in health care.

It’s a perfect project for our team to get involved in, because “becoming a hospital known for patient safety” is a key strategic direction in Soldiers’ new strategic plan.

“MORE-OB is based on the safety philosophy from the airline industry, that most mistakes are not really 'human' errors, they are the result of problems with the system,” explains RN Sheila Kirkland, who co-chairs the Soldiers’ project.

Over the next three years, the team of more than 60 people at Soldiers’ will do workshops and education sessions both in the hospital and online.

There will be hands-on skills training, problem-solving exercises and lots of discussion.

“The program will ensure we are all doing the same standardized care and that we are all on the same page,” explains Sheila.

“We’ll get a better sense of the work done by the rest of the team as well. As a nurse, I will never actually apply forceps, but in this course, I will learn to. That way I’ll be more aware of what the physician is doing when it happens. Meantime, the physicians will get a better understanding of all of the work the nurse has done before they ever arrive in the delivery room.”

 “The MORE-OB program will help tighten relationships within our entire program,” says RN Kory Whitlow.

“Our patients will notice that doctors, nurses, anaesthesiologists and all unit staff are focused on providing them with the best possible care.”

The Soldiers’ team is only at the beginning of the project, but very optimistic about the work ahead.

“Already in our first pre-chapters testing, we scored above the provincial average,” says Sheila.  

“We know we’re starting on the right page and we’re excited about working together on this for the babies and families.”