PQCNC New Maternal Leads

December 15, 2021

PQCNC New Maternal Leads!

PQCNC is proud to announce new PQCNC core team leadership for maternal projects. Over the years we have realized the commitment this position requires, as well as the opportunities that are provided to improve care when there is a powerful physician and nurse team leading the charge to change culture. As we continually seek to refine our collaborative model, we are pleased to welcome Melinda Ramage and Jim deVente to the PQCNC Core Team as our new co-leaders for Maternal Initiatives.

Melinda Ramage is a Family Nurse Practitioner in Asheville with Mission Health and is the Medical Director for Project Cara…Care that Advocates for Respect, Resilience and Recovery for All (CARA). Project Cara is one of the outstanding perinatal substance use disorder clinics serving moms and their infants in North Carolina. Mel has previously served as a perinatal nurse practitioner in the MAHEC Maternal-Fetal Medicine Clinic. In addition, she has served as a member of the NC IOM Perinatal Task Force and sits on the NC Medicaid and DHHS Drug Utilization Review Committee. Mel has been one of the primary leaders in the development and execution of PQCNC’s clOUDi initiative. She has been inspirational in efforts to recruit organizational support, identify patients and families to guides us in the conduct of clOUDi and she has drawn on her broad perinatal nursing expereince to direct PQCNC in identifying opportunities we have to shape future efforts to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.

Jim deVente is well known to many PQCNC members and has been a leader for numerous past PQCNC initiatives. Jim is a general obstetrician and Medical Director for Labor and Delivery at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, North Carolina. He is a physician who thrives in caring for his patients and families at Vidant Medical Center but who has also dedicated himself to improving maternity care for mothers everywhere in North Carolina. Dr. deVente was previously a leader of maternal projects for PQCNC and led our Support for Intended Vaginal Birth (SIVB) initiative. Jim has led the Vidant Health System in executing perinatal care initiatives but is the current Physician Champion for the Perinatal/Neonatal Outreach Coordinator Program in Region V. He was prior to this the Physician Leader for the CCNC Pregnancy Medical Home in Access East. Jim has also served in numerous other leadership positions at Vidant Medical Center, the Brody School of Medicine, the Vidant Health System and on state and national maternal care committees. Jim has made too numerous to count visits to hospitals across the state of North Carolina to, in his inimitable way, carry the torch for improving the care we provide mothers and their babies across the state. We are privileged that Jim is ale to rejoin the PQCNC team.

We are so excited that Melinda and Jim will be joining the PQCNC Core Team. Since inception, PQCNC has been fortunate to be supported by outstanding Maternal Project Leaders. The tradition continues. We all look forward to continuing to work with you all to make North Carolina the best place to give birth and be born!

Free Online Perinatal Substance Use Disorder Webinars...

These self-paced learning webinars were created by members of both the Project CARA and UNC Horizons teams and serve as two introduction webinars on the topics of PSUDS.

Perinatal Substance Use Disorders 101 - Discount code: M65827-121-100OFF: Exploring Evidence-Based Recommendations for Care - about evidence-based recommendations for care in treating and supporting mothers with perinatal substance use disorder. This webinar will provide information about how to build a comprehensive, trauma informed perinatal system of care by examining myths and biases that affect access to evidence based care and how to formulate priorities for education, information sharing, and support measures for your team related to perinatal substance use disorders.

Perinatal Substance Use Disorders 201: Expanding Skills and Knowledge to Care for the Mother-Baby Dyad - Discount code: M65829-121-100OFF - expands on the knowledge and resources from Webinar 1 by examining evidence based practices for mothers and neonate affected by other maternal use disorders, exploring the 48 hours surrounding delivery, reviewing recommended treatment for perinatal use disorders, and describing postpartum risks for sustained recovery in substance use disorders. Importantly, this webinar also formulates priorities for education, information sharing, and support measures for your team related to perinatal substance use disorders.

To access:

Step 1: Register for course. Click on https://mahec.net/event/65827 to select the available courses and click “Register” to proceed. In the “Discount Code” box, type the code allocated to your desired course to by-pass the payment process.

Step 2: Sign in or set up an account to complete the registration process and checkout.

Step 3: Complete the course. After registering for the course, click on the “My CE” tab and locate your “Courses in Progress”. There you will find a link to the individual course. By clicking that course link, another window will open with all course information. Review the presentation, take the final examination, and complete the evaluation to activate your certificate link for that course.

You will have 45 days from the date of registration to complete this course. After that date, course materials will no longer be accessible.

For questions contact Drea Mora at drea.mora@mahec.net

clOUDi 2.0 Kickoff - Register Now!

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

McKimmon Center, Raleigh NC

As we close in on one year of clOUDi work across the state of North Carolina it has become crystal clear that success in this effort requires confronting some harsh realities and challenging established cultures we as healthcare providers are hesitant to abandon. clOUDi is predicated on the principle that mothers dealing with substance use disorder can be identified, supported, treated and serve as the best medicine for their babies. We have made progress in advancing the clOUDi mission but there is much work that remains to be done.

As we prepare to launch clOUDi 2.0 in January 2022, we will continue our efforts to make validated verbal screening tools a part of every mother’s prenatal and hospital care. It will take more, however, than incorporating a validated verbal screening tool into an EMR to offer our mothers the care they need and deserve. In clOUDi 2.0 we will focus attention on creating that environment of trust, devoid of bias, that allows a mother to not only feel safe disclosing her substance use issues, but makes her comfortable enough to consider a brief intervention and referral for treatment. Further we will be probing the best strategies to allow nurseries and NICUs to be wiling to explore the role of mother as medicine for the infant experiencing a withdrawal syndrome.

There are challenges to all these elements of care but we have a unique opportunity to partner with moms and assist them on the road to recovery for themselves and the best outcomes for their babies.

We look forward to continuing this vital work with you as we launch clOUDi 2.0 this January. Stay with us. And if you haven’t joined us on this journey yet, please consider doing so. North Carolina mothers and their babies need you and your team.

Contact me!

Keith M Cochran

qiadvisor@pqcnc.org

984-974-7871

'Unoffice' hours - click here to schedule a Zoom meeting