15: Amniotic Fluid Embolism Awareness

The Vedalas bring in special guests for this episode of Vitals Visions to speak about Amniotic Fluid Embolism (AFE) Awareness. Lacey Heidel, BSN, RNC-OB of Norman Regional's OBED and Labor and Delivery units and Lea Ann Stephens, RN of Norman Regional's Infection Prevention department talk to the Vedalas about AFE symptoms, treatment during labor and more. The two also tell the story of their own personal tie to an AFE with their patient and daughter, Jacie's, AFE. Lacey was Jacie's Labor and Delivery nurse. Lea Ann is Jacie's mother. 

According to afesupport.org, "AFE is an unexpected life-threatening complication. It can affect both mother and baby. It is thought to result from an allergic-like reaction to the [amniotic] fluid that enters the mother's bloodstream. It can occur during labor or soon after delivery." To learn more about AFE, what you can do to help or for support resources, visit afesupport.org.

March 27 is designated as AFE Awareness Day.
This episode is in loving memory of Jacie Stephens Cochran and Andrea Neill.

Links:
AFE Foundation
For Clinicians: AmnioticFluidEmbolism.org - Research and Education
Blog: Amniotic Fluid Embolism, Labor and Delivery Nurses and How your Blood Donations Help
Blog: Norman Regional Earns First-in-National OBED Accreditation
Blog: PTSD, Healthcare Workers: What You Need to Know, How to Get Help

This podcast is for educational purposes only. The information in this show is not to be used as medical advice. If you are needing medical care, please consult with your physician.

Norman Regional is hiring! See all our open opportunities here: https://careers.normanregional.com/careers-home/

Transcript

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Welcome, friends.

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Dr. Veer Vedala here.

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And I'm Dr.

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Krishna Vedala, and.

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We are the Vedala Bros.

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Welcome to season
two of our podcast, Vital Visions,

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where we delve into all things
vital, empowering our community.

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One health topic at a time. Absolutely.

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And to our returning listeners,
it's fantastic to have you back

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and to our new listeners.

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Buckle up, because in this podcast
we explore emerging medical research,

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the latest in technology

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and crucial health care topics
that resonate with our community here

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at Norman Regional.

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Plus, we also sprinkle in some health
and wellness tips for good measure.

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That's the spirit.

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And each episode,
we're also joined by incredible guests,

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from medical professionals
to local community leaders

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and even some of our friendly neighbors.

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Together, we tackle various issues
affecting our community.

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So whether you're a health enthusiast
or just looking to stay informed

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about healthy living trends,
consider this podcast.

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To be your ultimate go to resource.

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So join us as we navigate the journey
to healthier lives

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and explore
the latest trends in wellbeing.

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Welcome to Vital Visions
Where Health meets Community.

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Welcome back, folks. Dr.

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Veer Vedala again
here, joined by my co-host.

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Dr. Krishna Vedala.

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And we are the Vedala Brothers.

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Thank you again for joining us on yet
another episode of Vital Visions podcast

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where we discuss all things
vital, empowering our community

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one topic at a time.

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Krishna We got a really big treat today.

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Yeah, such an important topic
that I don't think not people know about,

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and that is Amniotic Fluid Embolism
Amniotic fluid embolism or AFE

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is a rare but serious medical condition
that can occur during childbirth.

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It happens when amniotic fluid,
fetal cells or debris

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enter the mother's bloodstream,
triggering a severe allergic like

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reaction
that can lead to heart and lung failure.

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Often, patients and families
affected by amniotic fluid embolisms

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may not have anywhere to turn ask
questions or get information or support.

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But the AFE Foundation was created
to fill that void.

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And with us today are members of the AFE
Foundation and advocates for AFE. Ms.

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Lacey Heidel and Ms.

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Lea Ann Stephens.

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Krishna, can you introduce our guests.
Yes, of course.

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And to all of our listeners today,
we're thrilled to have, two

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amazing guest today.

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first off, Ms.

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Lacey Heidel, a nurse within the OBED

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and also, in the Labor & Delivery and Recovery

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units And also, Miss. Lea Ann Stephens,

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who is, with the Infection
Prevention Department.

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Thank you so much for being here and for,
answering all of our questions today.

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Would you guys,
mind introducing yourselves?

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yeah.

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My name is Lacey

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Heidel, I have been with the Norman
Regional Health System on the Labor

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and Delivery and Recovery Unit
and OBED for three and a half years

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and prior to that,
I was a science teacher

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for one of our middle schools
in Norman for seven years.

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I got super inspired by one of my nurses
for my daughter

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Stevie, and literally
just decided to go back to school.

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And that's what I wanted to do.

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Labor and delivery, be a cheerleader.

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My name is Lea Ann

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Stephens and I've been a registered nurse
for 34 years.

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Most of my background has been in
ambulatory care outpatient

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surgery setting,

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and I've been at Norman Regional
Hospital for a total of about 12 years.

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Through that 34 year span,

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I've done
infection prevention, employee health,

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performance improvement, but
my current role is infection prevention

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and I'm here today
because you're probably wondering

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how come someone from Infection
prevention is in this AFE

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podcast is
my daughter had experienced an AFE.

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Thank you so much for being here
both of you.

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And so, with that said,
why don't we go ahead and get started?

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What are some of the symptoms of AFE

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and how quickly does AFE usually develop?

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Well, And the most common

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signs and symptoms of an AFE

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would be confusion, agitation

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and an impending sense of doom.

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Sometimes they even say,
I think I'm going to die.

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They just feel like something's not right.

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and then, of

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course, the cardiopulmonary collapse.

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Yeah.

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And usually within the first couple
of hours of labors, whenever.

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You start to see them. Yeah. Yeah.

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a lot of the times
it's with them 30 minutes of either

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the delivery of the placenta
or the water breaking so.

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Wow, Lacey, thank you so much
for explaining to our audience about this.

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Sometimes in symptoms of AFE
it sounds like a very scary experience,

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and we can't even begin to imagine
what those mothers must have gone through.

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and Ms. Lea Ann already shared.

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Thank you, Ms.

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Lea Ann, for sharing about your daughter.

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we would like to know
more about your story

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and how you both got involved
with the AFE Foundation.

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And what were your motivators?

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So, Lea Ann's daughter

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Jacie, was my patient.

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I was still in orientation, and it was,

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she was one of my first patients, 
kind of where I take the lead.

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And so three months
into my nursing career. Wow,

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and she was an induction
and got all the steps done.

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And broke water and then there

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it went from there.

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But I was her nurse.

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And so you guys have known each other

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since and have been pretty close since.

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Then that we've developed a bond.

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We sure have.

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I'm so, I'm so sorry.

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Thank you.

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Very hard.

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And then, how did you get involved
with the AFE foundation?

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I understand it's been around for a while.

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Well, I think with being having
a nursing background to I knew that

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once I heard about what it was, just.

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I got on the internet, started looking.

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What is this at first,
when I heard the word embolism.

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I thought that
she had a pulmonary embolism.

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And even though I've been a nurse for
a long time, I've never heard of an AFE,

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which I would have never been in
maternal nursing either.

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But, you know, you learn the other serious
complications of birth.

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But I just started reading about it,

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and then I eventually contacted,

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the foundation,
and then they called me back,

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and we had a very long conversation,

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and then from there it's been a continued

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relationship. Yeah.

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whenever the AFE happened

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at some point, one of our administrators

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said this is an AFE and after the fact,

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after everything was,

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everything happened and our management
contacted the AFE Foundation.

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So Miranda Klassen,

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who's the founder of that,

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contacted me personally

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and we were able to zoom and
then I've just been involved ever since.

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So you kind of
had like a debriefing session? With her

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yes. Wow. Yeah, that's,

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that must have been some experience.

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I'm family medicine trained,
so part of our training we had to do.

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And if it wasn't for that, we did.

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We do a crisis center
training called, also.

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so it's advanced,
obstetrics, life support.

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And if I didn't do that course
and they didn't talk about AFE,

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I wouldn't have never heard of that. It
right.

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It's not something they were discussing
medical school very often.

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And so, well, even in nursing school
they maybe said this is a complication.

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Next page.

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Yeah. Let's talk about pre-eclampsia.
Yeah. Yeah.

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Or Gestational Diabetes.

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Yeah, whatever.

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And I've been through

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four years of medical school
and I haven't seen any AFE at all.

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That's what they said. It's so uncommon.

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It's so rare that we do.

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We don't really even think about it

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unless it's
one of these unfortunate circumstances.

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And so it's it's, it's something
that we all really need to keep in.

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Keep in mind, if that's
if that unfortunate situation ever arises.

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Yeah, definitely.

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And thank you guys for being that pillar
of support for patients when they need it.

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And, and, and moving this

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topic forward
and getting people to know about it.

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So I think we can move on
and ask more questions.

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What are some risk factors for AFE

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that maybe doing pregnancy
or is there any that you guys can think of.

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There's really not.

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There's not any risk factors and it's not recommended
to change any type of OB care.

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I think it's a lot of awareness for moms.

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I think especially new moms.

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The new moms don't know what to expect.

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They don't know what's normal and abnormal
in the birthing experience

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or how they'll react to say,
Hey, this isn’t right?

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This isn’t like my first one.

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So there's really no way to predict.

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And a lot of it is education, education
for clinicians,

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making patients aware

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of this complication
and to speak up. Yeah.

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Yeah.

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You know, there's not any risk factors.

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It's, it's so under researched
and that's where the foundation comes in.

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They're really trying to

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get that out there.

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And that's also
why we're raising awareness.

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And Jacie,
her daughter, has been able to provide

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so much for the foundation
and things are moving forward

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in tremendous ways
and they're finding out new things.

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and so

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we just need more research. Yeah.

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And maybe figure out reasons behind it.

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So, yeah, it's just important.

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There's a repository
that, you can send specimens to

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for AFE research and be part of that
and when an AFE happens and one is

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suspected, it's really would be so helpful
if they could put back some blood.

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They don't have to like,

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stop and delay any kind of treatment.

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Just have that blood off the side
before any

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blood transfusions are given.

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Red top, Purple top.

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And that way that can be released possibly
later on for investigation on what?

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Yeah.

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So that kind of leads
into one of the questions that we had

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was about diagnosing AFE
but I'm assuming that's

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the blood, you know, leaving it on
the side is the ...

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Well, there's actually no diagnosis.

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It's undiagnosed untreatable.

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Like it's it was exclusive?

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Yes, there is diagnosed by exclusion,
like.

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Diagnosis by exclusion.

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Which.

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Yeah, but they're hoping, you know,
if there's anything in the blood,

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because it's really hard
to get blood samples

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for participation for pregnant women
who want to go through a study like

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that when they're pregnant.

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So just anything
they can pick up in those blood samples,

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they would like to get right before
the event or as the event is happening.

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But before blood transfusions
started. Yeah.

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And so. And then tissue, tissue samples,
like there was

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cells in her lung tissue that,
you know, showed that it was fetal cells.

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But, but it's not uncommon
to have fetal cells in mom's bloodstream.

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It was the reaction that the mother has
that is so severe,

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anaphylactic
that there's just no going back.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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00:11:45,996 --> 00:11:48,708
I kind of like
looking into that emergency situation

233
00:11:48,708 --> 00:11:52,086
that most people won't expect
or experience.

234
00:11:52,086 --> 00:11:52,461
Right.

235
00:11:52,461 --> 00:11:56,507
can you kind of walk us through
how treatment's

236
00:11:56,507 --> 00:11:59,510
done then? So

237
00:11:59,719 --> 00:12:03,806
I, you know, looking into our training,
you know, there's a risk for DIC

238
00:12:03,806 --> 00:12:09,478
or bleeding and then there's respiratory
and, and cardiovascular risk, right?

239
00:12:09,478 --> 00:12:12,732
So how does delivery of the baby happen
and things like that.

240
00:12:12,732 --> 00:12:15,067
If you wouldn’t mind
walking us through that for our listeners.

241
00:12:16,152 --> 00:12:20,030
Well in our situation

242
00:12:21,532 --> 00:12:24,535
we had the respiratory arrest

243
00:12:25,035 --> 00:12:28,038
followed by the cardiac arrest.

244
00:12:30,249 --> 00:12:31,709
By God's grace,

245
00:12:31,709 --> 00:12:34,670
anesthesia
just happened to be in the room.

246
00:12:34,712 --> 00:12:35,838
Yeah, in the room.

247
00:12:35,838 --> 00:12:38,424
We were just about
to get an epidural. Right.

248
00:12:38,424 --> 00:12:41,427
And so she was able to get that airway
quick,

249
00:12:42,011 --> 00:12:44,013
and push that code blue button.

250
00:12:44,013 --> 00:12:47,016
But really, as far as treatment,

251
00:12:47,141 --> 00:12:50,144
you're kind of playing catch up,

252
00:12:51,145 --> 00:12:54,148
chasing your tail, basically.

253
00:12:54,482 --> 00:12:58,736
getting an airway is most important first,
and then we'll do the compressions.

254
00:12:58,736 --> 00:13:03,032
You must do the left lateral uterine
displacement. Displacement.

255
00:13:03,407 --> 00:13:05,493
Yeah, Yeah.

256
00:13:05,493 --> 00:13:07,787
So it's, it is resuscitation basically.

257
00:13:07,787 --> 00:13:11,248
And then yeah,
and then you do a perimortem

258
00:13:11,248 --> 00:13:14,418
or postmortem C-section
and it's very important.

259
00:13:14,543 --> 00:13:19,006
Wherever they have the cardiac arrest,
that's where you do the C-section.

260
00:13:19,006 --> 00:13:21,091
All you need is a scalpel.

261
00:13:21,342 --> 00:13:24,345
I, I guess I haven't had that experience.

262
00:13:24,428 --> 00:13:28,349
Luckily in my training
and I, we can't thank our providers

263
00:13:28,349 --> 00:13:30,893
and nurses and staff
and everybody involved in their enough

264
00:13:30,893 --> 00:13:33,229
because they are so well trained
at what they do.

265
00:13:33,229 --> 00:13:35,981
It's a, it's a moving wheel.

266
00:13:35,981 --> 00:13:36,524
Right?

267
00:13:36,524 --> 00:13:42,822
And, We were lucky to have a OBGYN nearby
whenever the code was called

268
00:13:43,113 --> 00:13:47,368
and she came in and she recognized
exactly what needed to be done.

269
00:13:47,576 --> 00:13:49,411
And that's not always the case.

270
00:13:49,411 --> 00:13:52,414
And I'm in a support group
with other moms.

271
00:13:52,456 --> 00:13:55,459
I know that they don't always
get that baby out quick,

272
00:13:55,543 --> 00:13:58,504
and there's a lot of issues
that can happen for that.

273
00:13:58,504 --> 00:14:02,633
So yeah, she was I think he was out
under 5 minutes, maybe three.

274
00:14:02,716 --> 00:14:06,345
It was it was it was it was at 5 minutes.

275
00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:10,641
So from water break to
I have the timestamps.

276
00:14:10,808 --> 00:14:11,600
Yeah.

277
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:13,227
That's how I that's how I process
and how I cope.

278
00:14:13,227 --> 00:14:19,191
Yeah, talking to that.
Like the risk of hypoxic injury to baby.

279
00:14:19,191 --> 00:14:24,071
I think that's a great segue into talking about 

280
00:14:24,071 --> 00:14:24,947
what are the complications 
post-event for mom and baby? Right.

281
00:14:24,947 --> 00:14:27,867
And we read about this and we know 
that the mortality rate is like 20%.

282
00:14:27,867 --> 00:14:29,743
Well, anywhere from 20 to 60.

283
00:14:29,743 --> 00:14:31,287
Just depends, you know.

284
00:14:31,287 --> 00:14:33,038
Depends on how severe the reaction to.

285
00:14:33,038 --> 00:14:34,915
Sometimes you're at your house.

286
00:14:34,915 --> 00:14:38,043
Sometimes you're in the hospital. 
You know yeah. Yeah. So.

287
00:14:38,377 --> 00:14:39,211
Wow. Yeah.

288
00:14:39,211 --> 00:14:42,089
Could you guys talk about
mom and baby a little bit?

289
00:14:43,799 --> 00:14:46,802
There's actually a support group for AFE

290
00:14:47,303 --> 00:14:50,973
has for moms
that have had complications afterwards.

291
00:14:50,973 --> 00:14:55,352
Some of-em you know,
they were in a vegetative state,

292
00:14:56,437 --> 00:14:59,440
and then taken off support.

293
00:14:59,648 --> 00:15:01,859
Yeah.

294
00:15:01,859 --> 00:15:05,905
Others had so many, like,
hypoxic injuries, a kidney failure.

295
00:15:05,905 --> 00:15:06,780
Yeah.

296
00:15:06,780 --> 00:15:09,742
stents put in.

297
00:15:09,742 --> 00:15:12,828
there's one that lost their leg
because of the situation.

298
00:15:12,828 --> 00:15:14,330
Yeah,

299
00:15:14,330 --> 00:15:17,082
it's can be very
that in they’re left with.

300
00:15:17,082 --> 00:15:20,794
With a lot of mental anguish too
because trauma

301
00:15:20,794 --> 00:15:24,006
from birthing trauma. PTSD.

302
00:15:24,214 --> 00:15:27,384
Well, I mean, your
your baby's birthday is this day.

303
00:15:27,801 --> 00:15:30,304
Yeah, yeah.

304
00:15:30,304 --> 00:15:33,265
and then sometimes the babies
go to NICU Right?

305
00:15:33,265 --> 00:15:34,266
Always.

306
00:15:34,266 --> 00:15:36,936
They go, Yeah,

307
00:15:36,936 --> 00:15:39,647
Monitoring them from hypoxic brain injury
and returning to mom.

308
00:15:39,647 --> 00:15:42,650
So that's got to be hard as it is.

309
00:15:43,567 --> 00:15:45,277
Yeah, I know.

310
00:15:45,277 --> 00:15:47,363
We talked about,
you know, it's a little bit,

311
00:15:47,363 --> 00:15:50,616
you know, because of how uncommon
it is, very difficult to recognize it.

312
00:15:50,616 --> 00:15:53,827
But other than recognizing the symptoms
and acting quickly,

313
00:15:53,827 --> 00:15:57,831
is there anything else that could be done
to prevent AFE, by any chance?

314
00:15:58,832 --> 00:16:01,377
I mean, I wouldn't say prevent.

315
00:16:01,377 --> 00:16:04,380
I would say be prepared for.

316
00:16:04,964 --> 00:16:07,967
The AFE Foundation, just put out a,

317
00:16:08,258 --> 00:16:11,387
an AFE simulation toolkit and

318
00:16:12,721 --> 00:16:14,848
a couple of ladies will come around

319
00:16:14,848 --> 00:16:18,644
and do this with you
and they're trying to get it out all over.

320
00:16:18,644 --> 00:16:22,022
They also have an AFE,

321
00:16:23,899 --> 00:16:25,150
course that you can take.

322
00:16:25,150 --> 00:16:27,152
I just finished taking it.

323
00:16:27,152 --> 00:16:28,737
It was amazing.

324
00:16:28,737 --> 00:16:29,279
That's great.

325
00:16:29,279 --> 00:16:30,239
Amazing.

326
00:16:30,239 --> 00:16:33,242
I'm actually going to be telling my unit

327
00:16:33,450 --> 00:16:37,705
like, let's all just powwow
and do it. It's 3 hours, self-paced.

328
00:16:38,414 --> 00:16:42,126
It's amazing for anybody, nurses
or spouse or whoever.

329
00:16:42,209 --> 00:16:45,212
But I think practice

330
00:16:45,379 --> 00:16:48,382
and then the communication
and the research.

331
00:16:48,382 --> 00:16:50,676
And that course is offered by the AFE

332
00:16:50,676 --> 00:16:52,219
Foundation. Okay.

333
00:16:52,219 --> 00:16:56,306
Wow. That's one thing with I'm
the AFE State liaison.

334
00:16:56,890 --> 00:17:00,060
So that's one thing
I'll be going to all the OB labor

335
00:17:00,060 --> 00:17:04,732
and delivery departments either
contacting them by a zoom call

336
00:17:04,732 --> 00:17:08,861
or actually going to their to the hospital
and giving the information

337
00:17:08,861 --> 00:17:12,531
that Lacey's talking about
and just in case if anyone's listening

338
00:17:12,573 --> 00:17:16,869
wants to go to that site, it's
amnioticfluidembolism.org.

339
00:17:17,786 --> 00:17:21,790
So it takes you to that page
where you can enter information in and get

340
00:17:21,790 --> 00:17:27,171
you'll get three free CNE’s
and then you'll take that course.

341
00:17:27,588 --> 00:17:29,131
I have not taken that course yet either.

342
00:17:29,131 --> 00:17:30,966
I just finished.

343
00:17:30,966 --> 00:17:33,927
And then from there
you can also do the simulation

344
00:17:33,927 --> 00:17:37,306
tool kit and it's only been out
for like three weeks.

345
00:17:37,347 --> 00:17:40,350
Okay, So it's just really getting started

346
00:17:40,434 --> 00:17:43,937
in, but every labor
and delivery unit will have,

347
00:17:45,022 --> 00:17:47,566
information about it and can access that.

348
00:17:47,566 --> 00:17:48,567
And it's free.

349
00:17:48,567 --> 00:17:49,318
And it's free.

350
00:17:49,318 --> 00:17:52,362
And our unit does do a simulation.

351
00:17:52,988 --> 00:17:57,076
It's not obviously like there's
I got to meet them.

352
00:17:57,076 --> 00:18:01,330
Those that started that at the AWHONN

353
00:18:01,330 --> 00:18:04,333
conference in New Orleans and

354
00:18:05,501 --> 00:18:06,668
it was really cool.

355
00:18:06,668 --> 00:18:10,005
They get, it, sometimes whenever we do
simulations

356
00:18:10,297 --> 00:18:13,801
like we'll play the Doctor and I'm like,
I don't know what they're going to want.

357
00:18:13,842 --> 00:18:18,305
you know, the doctor
comes, the CRNA comes,

358
00:18:18,514 --> 00:18:21,934
respiratory comes,
everybody comes to the simulation.

359
00:18:22,476 --> 00:18:23,852
So it's not just like nurses

360
00:18:23,852 --> 00:18:27,397
playing roles and wearing a badge
and that's who you are that day, you know.

361
00:18:27,689 --> 00:18:30,692
So I think that's super important
to know your role,

362
00:18:30,984 --> 00:18:34,321
what your role is going to be,
and that's a big part of that simulation.

363
00:18:34,738 --> 00:18:36,907
So is it, is there some

364
00:18:37,950 --> 00:18:38,867
interactive piece

365
00:18:38,867 --> 00:18:41,870
to it, to a like a simulation like, where.

366
00:18:41,870 --> 00:18:43,705
Like a simulation.

367
00:18:43,705 --> 00:18:46,750
We have like a video,
like animated simulation aspects.

368
00:18:46,875 --> 00:18:49,503
And they show video. Okay.

369
00:18:49,503 --> 00:18:51,755
And then they have like a mannequin.

370
00:18:51,755 --> 00:18:53,882
Okay. Yeah. wow, that's great.

371
00:18:53,882 --> 00:18:55,467
Where you can do the left...

372
00:18:55,467 --> 00:18:56,885
the deviation. That's.

373
00:18:56,885 --> 00:18:59,721
That's really cool. Yeah.

374
00:18:59,721 --> 00:19:01,682
I guess another thing is
you guys mentioned research,

375
00:19:01,682 --> 00:19:06,395
and have you heard of any new advances
or new upcoming findings for AFE

376
00:19:06,603 --> 00:19:09,857
to that the foundation's putting through
or things you're excited about?

377
00:19:10,816 --> 00:19:13,986
Well, I know that the tissue specimens
they're being,

378
00:19:13,986 --> 00:19:16,196
there's a project they're doing with that.

379
00:19:16,196 --> 00:19:18,907
I haven't heard the latest
on how that's advancing,

380
00:19:18,907 --> 00:19:23,745
but that makes a huge difference
for to get those tissues to look at,

381
00:19:24,705 --> 00:19:30,377
So, one of the, and very exciting news
is that our OBED here in Norman

382
00:19:30,377 --> 00:19:34,214
Regional has been, I guess, recognized

383
00:19:34,214 --> 00:19:37,885
as the first official, 
OBED number of first time in the nation.

384
00:19:38,385 --> 00:19:43,473
and so, I was just wondering if you guys
could share, kind of your experience

385
00:19:43,473 --> 00:19:49,062
with our or our OBED and, and how you guys
feel about being nationally recognized.

386
00:19:50,272 --> 00:19:53,275
Well, Jacie
actually had an experience with OBED.

387
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:57,279
She came in a couple of days
before she had her son

388
00:19:57,613 --> 00:20:01,658
and just some minor things that,
you know, I just I said go

389
00:20:01,658 --> 00:20:05,829
I mean that’s what it’s there for
and I feel like that was a really big plus

390
00:20:05,829 --> 00:20:09,958
to have that OBED for Jacie to decide
to come to the regional hospital.

391
00:20:10,334 --> 00:20:13,629
It was a big plus for me to to back that
up, too.

392
00:20:13,629 --> 00:20:16,632
And I felt more reassured
that they were more prepared.

393
00:20:16,965 --> 00:20:19,968
I wouldn't say more prepared,
but they had the,

394
00:20:21,637 --> 00:20:23,347
the staffed physician there to 

395
00:20:23,347 --> 00:20:25,098
recognize emergencies.

396
00:20:25,098 --> 00:20:28,352
The difference between triage and an OBED,

397
00:20:29,895 --> 00:20:30,562
Triage,

398
00:20:30,562 --> 00:20:35,317
The nurse does all of the questions
and all of that and then calls the doctor.

399
00:20:36,276 --> 00:20:40,739
With our OBED, we have someone here
24 hours, and they're actually

400
00:20:41,114 --> 00:20:41,907
on the unit.

401
00:20:41,907 --> 00:20:44,743
They have a call room
dedicated to themselves.

402
00:20:44,743 --> 00:20:46,119
It's right there.

403
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:47,913
They're easily accessible.

404
00:20:47,913 --> 00:20:50,707
And that's who accompanied

405
00:20:50,707 --> 00:20:53,835
that other physician who
was in the unit was our OBED.

406
00:20:55,003 --> 00:20:56,797
hospitalist.

407
00:20:56,797 --> 00:21:01,343
So, super, super
proud of our certification

408
00:21:01,343 --> 00:21:05,138
and yeah, well now we can be a blueprint
for the rest of the nation.

409
00:21:05,681 --> 00:21:08,642
Just to highlight
what did the certification entail.

410
00:21:08,642 --> 00:21:11,645
We had to hit

411
00:21:11,645 --> 00:21:14,648
certain marks like

412
00:21:15,524 --> 00:21:20,195
treating blood pressure, severe
blood pressures and the Betamethasone

413
00:21:20,195 --> 00:21:23,657
steroid injections and time

414
00:21:23,657 --> 00:21:27,119
from in to when the doctor sees them.

415
00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:31,415
And then same with like when orders are in
and then labs are read

416
00:21:31,707 --> 00:21:35,210
just a bunch of different check marks
that we had to meet.

417
00:21:35,419 --> 00:21:38,839
And yeah, that's amazing. So. Wow.

418
00:21:38,839 --> 00:21:42,551
So the betamethasone steroid injections,
I guess are for the the lung maturity.

419
00:21:42,551 --> 00:21:42,676
Yeah.

420
00:21:42,676 --> 00:21:45,554
The baby's prenatal
care, pre pre-term care.

421
00:21:45,554 --> 00:21:48,140
And so that is quite an achievement.

422
00:21:48,140 --> 00:21:50,726
We're very proud of Norman Regional

423
00:21:51,768 --> 00:21:55,022
to be able to say that hey we are
a center of excellence.

424
00:21:55,022 --> 00:21:55,814
Right. Yeah.

425
00:21:55,814 --> 00:21:59,318
And we were the first to be certified
in perinatal care as well.

426
00:21:59,609 --> 00:22:01,695
That's amazing.

427
00:22:01,695 --> 00:22:02,279
That's great.

428
00:22:02,279 --> 00:22:05,657
I mean, to be first in the nation
that that means a lot, that that means

429
00:22:05,741 --> 00:22:07,451
a whole different significance.

430
00:22:07,451 --> 00:22:09,911
And so that's that's that's excellent.

431
00:22:09,911 --> 00:22:12,914
Yeah I live back there in OBED so

432
00:22:12,914 --> 00:22:14,291
it's my little home.

433
00:22:14,291 --> 00:22:16,752
So you primarily work in, the OBED right now? 

434
00:22:16,752 --> 00:22:20,047
Two of my shifts are over there
and then one is on the floor.

435
00:22:20,589 --> 00:22:22,466
So I got you.

436
00:22:22,466 --> 00:22:25,927
So this is one of the things that, that
we like doing with this podcast is,

437
00:22:25,927 --> 00:22:29,723
is for anybody that that's interested
in getting involved in health care

438
00:22:30,599 --> 00:22:35,145
is, is just kind of see if if you guys
can give any kind of word of advice

439
00:22:35,604 --> 00:22:38,231
for people that want to be involved
in your respective

440
00:22:38,231 --> 00:22:41,360
fields and infection prevention
and also in O.B.

441
00:22:41,735 --> 00:22:42,194
specifically, OBED.

442
00:22:43,528 --> 00:22:46,281
So any words of advice for

443
00:22:46,281 --> 00:22:49,284
people
that want to get involved in such fields?

444
00:22:50,619 --> 00:22:54,247
I remember a specific question
in my interview.

445
00:22:54,790 --> 00:22:57,793
How do you do in high stress situations?

446
00:22:58,126 --> 00:23:01,088
And I remember my response being so like,

447
00:23:01,088 --> 00:23:05,634
Oh, I'm great, you know,
not knowing like what those high risk

448
00:23:06,051 --> 00:23:09,054
you know, not knowing that
that could be one of those.

449
00:23:09,096 --> 00:23:12,057
I would say that

450
00:23:12,140 --> 00:23:15,143
it's not always happy times.

451
00:23:16,311 --> 00:23:19,314
It's not always crying babies.

452
00:23:19,314 --> 00:23:22,734
It's time management,

453
00:23:23,902 --> 00:23:26,905
patient care, quick,

454
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,908
healthy mom, healthy baby.

455
00:23:29,908 --> 00:23:33,703
So. Ms. Lea Ann?

456
00:23:34,955 --> 00:23:38,333
Well with me being in infection prevention,
it's like there's never a dull moment.

457
00:23:39,459 --> 00:23:42,587
You never get bored with what you're doing
and just

458
00:23:44,047 --> 00:23:47,050
something I enjoy doing.

459
00:23:47,801 --> 00:23:49,469
Well,
thank you guys for both joining us today.

460
00:23:49,469 --> 00:23:52,305
We really would love to have in you
and this is such an important topic.

461
00:23:52,305 --> 00:23:56,059
before we end the show,
we always ask if our guests

462
00:23:56,059 --> 00:23:59,855
have any messages
they want to give to our listeners.

463
00:24:00,272 --> 00:24:01,815
Do you have anything else to say?

464
00:24:04,484 --> 00:24:04,818
So if you

465
00:24:04,818 --> 00:24:08,738
have any questions about any more
questions about AFE, go to the website.

466
00:24:09,030 --> 00:24:12,033
That's very good website.

467
00:24:13,285 --> 00:24:15,412
AFEsupport.org.

468
00:24:15,412 --> 00:24:18,415
You'll see my beautiful face
on the front page

469
00:24:18,623 --> 00:24:21,585
with my story from my perspective.

470
00:24:22,669 --> 00:24:24,171
Little plug in.

471
00:24:24,171 --> 00:24:26,298
I've been so,

472
00:24:26,298 --> 00:24:27,048
with Lacey.

473
00:24:27,048 --> 00:24:30,051
I mean, Lacey could have just

474
00:24:30,260 --> 00:24:35,390
kind of just sunk under a rock and,
and just not want to face any of it.

475
00:24:35,390 --> 00:24:39,144
But she, she took it
and she's done some great things with it.

476
00:24:39,478 --> 00:24:42,397
And that really honors my daughter.

477
00:24:42,397 --> 00:24:44,024
Yeah.

478
00:24:44,024 --> 00:24:45,150
Amazing.

479
00:24:45,150 --> 00:24:48,487
Well, guys, this has been another episode
of Vital Visions podcast

480
00:24:48,487 --> 00:24:51,990
discussing such an important topic
of amniotic fluid embolism.

481
00:24:51,990 --> 00:24:55,285
And for more information,
please reach out to the website.

482
00:24:55,327 --> 00:25:00,749
AmnioticFluidEmbolism.org
And AFESupport.org and

483
00:25:01,791 --> 00:25:03,877
from the bottom of our hearts,
thank you for joining us today.

484
00:25:03,877 --> 00:25:06,129
And as always, stay classy.

485
00:25:06,129 --> 00:25:07,172
And stay out of trouble.