Development of family-driven quality measures for families with pre-natal opioid exposure

Client: The Perinatal Quality Improvement Network of Massachusetts (at Beth Israel Lahey Health)/Health Policy Commission.
Topic Areas: Behavioral health and substance use; Children, youth, and families; Healthcare delivery systems; Maternal and child health
Services: Applied Research, Participatory Evaluation

The Perinatal Quality Improvement Network of Massachusetts (PNQIN) engaged with ICH for a project to develop the first family-driven measures of quality for use with families whose babies have experienced prenatal opioid exposure. The ICH team conducted an in-depth review of the literature on patient- and family-centered care, family-centered and family-driven measures of quality, and the use of these measures in care for families whose babies are at risk for neo-natal abstinence syndrome (NAS) or neo-natal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS).  The literature revealed that family-driven measures are rare in measuring quality for this population, and this project represents one of the first efforts to incorporate family input on important elements of care into an overall understanding of quality. We developed a qualitative interview guide based on the literature, and collected in-depth information on the elements of hospital care that were most important to families of babies at risk for NAS/NOWS.  Our team interviewed 10 women who had recently given birth and were engaged in recovery or other related services. The themes that emerged during the qualitative analysis informed the development of a draft survey tool and recommendations to providers for survey implementation. The draft survey tool will be pilot tested by providers in the PNQIN network, with the goal of implementing the tool more widely among hospitals with patients who have experienced prenatal opioid exposure.