NPQIC strives to involve patient and community voices in our quality improvement work to increase respectful care and work toward achieving birth equity in Nebraska. Starting with the Birth Equity Initiative in 2023, NPQIC ensures an ongoing equity focus in all statewide quality improvement initiatives to address maternal disparities. The Nebraska Alliance for Maternal and Infant Equity (NAMIE) will engage patient and community partners in NPQIC’s work in a structured, meaningful way.
Nebraska Alliance for Maternal and Infant Equity (NAMIE)
Project Background
NPQIC is recruiting people with lived experience as a pregnant or postpartum patient, a parent of an infant who received care in the NICU, or those who support pregnant and postpartum people, such as doulas or maternal health community organizations, to serve on NAMIE. We are seeking representation from people with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The purpose of the Alliance is to advise and provide recommendations to unmet needs and opportunities to enhance NPQIC’s efforts to address disparities in birth outcomes and increase respectful care through a variety of domains.
NAMIE Goals:
- Establish a Nebraska Alliance for Maternal and Infant Equity (NAMIE) to both increase community and patient awareness of existing disparities in health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum patients in Nebraska and increase clinical team awareness of patient and community concerns related to perinatal health care.
- Increase the number of hospitals with patient/community engagement practices to inform the adoption of equitable care practices.
- Identify potential opportunities for hospital-clinical-community linkages to improve the continuum of care for patients served by the hospital in that community and provide feedback on patient-facing tools developed by the hospital.
About NPQIC
NPQIC is a multi-stakeholder organization committed to ending preventable morbidity, mortality, and racial disparities in Nebraska maternity care. NPQIC strives to understand birth equity through discussions about various forms of bias and disparities in obstetric treatment and care as well as maternal outcomes by improving systems of care across the state. NPQIC acknowledges that health and birth equities cannot be addressed without representation from diverse perspectives and various lived experiences.
NAMIE Objectives:
- Inform the project direction from a patient and community perspective by applying personal, lived experiences to family-centered work.
- Partner with the project team to shape and assist hospitals in identifying how to engage patients and the community.
- Review NPQIC toolkits and other educational materials to provide insight into how supportive, equitable and respectful care is integrated into quality improvement work.
- Provide regular feedback and input on tools designed to improve respectful care and reduce disparities.
- Identify new opportunities to engage patients in various elements of the project.
- Identify contextual factors that contribute to patient experience in relationship to data.
Scope of Work:
- Attend quarterly Alliance meetings (which will include orientation meetings).
- Up to 3 hours per month of work outside of monthly meetings that include, but is not limited to, reviewing materials, meeting one-on-one with project leadership, and engaging in outreach activities.
- Serve as guest faculty on community engagement webinar(s).
- Facilitate conversations and build relationships between hospitals, clinics, partners (e.g., patients, clinical leaders, birth partners, social workers, etc.) and community partners with the goal of developing a sustainable patient and partner support network.
- Build an understanding of hospital and ambulatory care in different geographical regions where disparities in birth outcomes are high.
- Advise on related projects.
Structure:
NAMIE shall be made up of 10 members. At least five of these members should have personal lived experience and the other members may represent those who support pregnant and postpartum people, such as community organizations or doulas.
Initial Project Timeline:
February 2025 - February 2027
Commitment:
Alliance members are asked to commit to serving for two years with an opportunity for reappointment.
