Ambulatory OB Welcomes Health Center Nurses

A face-to-face meeting last month among BWH Ambulatory Obstetrics Practices nurses and nurses at eight affiliated community health centers really delivered.

“We talk with our neighborhood health center nurses every single day, but we’ve never met them in person,” said Maureen Fagan, MS, RNP, director of Ambulatory OB Programs, who organized the half-day meeting. “We wanted to hear first hand how they care for patients at their obstetric practice at the health centers and learn from them how we can make it easier for their patients to connect with us.”

The 11 neighborhood health centers around the city of Boston regularly send their high-risk patients to the Ambulatory Obstetric Practice at BWH and speak with staff here daily to set up appointments, triage urgent patient visits or call in with lab results. During the meeting, the health center nurses had the chance to tour the Center for Labor and Birth and some of the Post-partum units.

“It was helpful to the nurses to see where their patients go when they transfer their care here,” said Fagan, adding that, during the tour, one health center nurse even saw one of her former patients in Labor and Delivery.

The meeting was mutually beneficial for both staff at BWH and the health centers. They heard presentations from Betty Fenton-Diggins, RN, Peggy Tonelli, MS, RNP, Arlene Buck, RN, Rita McCarthy, MS, RNP, and Kathy Bennett, RN, among others.

That initial meeting has spurred a commitment to meet with the whole group every nine months.