Staying Healthy After Birth
Caring for Postpartum Patients
Recommendations and Best Practice Resources for Postpartum Care
Purpose: This landing page is considered a resource but does not define the standard of care in California. Readers are advised to adapt the guidelines and resources based on their local facility’s level of care and patient populations served and are also advised not to rely solely on the guidelines presented here. The examples provided, as well as links for additional information or training, should not be viewed as exclusive or preferred.
Provider Postpartum Discharge Handout for All Patients
Download a three-page flyer of key points to cover with all patients at discharge.
Provider Best Practices for Postpartum Discharge
- Evaluate the risk of the patient
- Use standardized teaching and checklists
- Consider the target audience – age, language, cultural implications, literacy
- Include normal vs. abnormal symptoms
- Incorporate co-parents, family, and social network in teaching and decision-making
- Allow time for patient and family questions
- Emphasize the importance of follow-up
- Empower mothers to speak up on their own behalf – listen to their bodies and report when something isn’t right
- Disclosure of recent pregnancy when seeking care
- Consider a Discharge RN (can additionally make postpartum phone calls 24-48 hours post-discharge home)
Provider Resources by Category
Resources for assessing, educating, and referring patients and families to provide quality care and improve outcomes.
Provider Resources by Topic
Resources for assessing, educating, and referring patients and families to provide quality care and improve outcomes.
This quality improvement initiative is grounded in established clinical practices and evidence-based guidelines recognized and widely accepted within the health care field. The project recommendations were informed by current clinical guidelines, peer-reviewed literature, and standard professional resources including the ACOG Committee Opinion #736, "Optimizing Postpartum Care," and Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health's Postpartum Discharge Transition Bundle. All specific tools and direct references to the work of others have been appropriately cited in accordance with academic and clinical documentation standards.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of Merck for Mothers for funding this project to improve patient-centered outcomes. The content is the responsibility of the developers and does not necessarily represent the official views of Merck for Mothers.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of our collaborators and advisory group, whose expertise, guidance, and ongoing support were instrumental in the development and completion of this work. Their insights significantly strengthened the quality and impact of this work.
Project Leads
- Arlene Cullum, MPH
- Leslie Kowalewski
- Lucy VanOtterloo, PhD, RNC
Collaborators
- Katherine Ayala, RNC, MSN
- Emily Dossett, MD, MTS
- Susan Dragoo, DNP, RN, WHNP
- Kimberly Durdin, LM
- Doug Fenton, MD
- Andrea Ferroni, MA, LM
- Nova Fox, RNC, MBA
- Kimberly Gregory, MD, MPH
- Sara Johnson, MD
- Sarah Kilpatrick, MD, PhD
- Carmen Rezak, DNP, RN, WHNP
- Colleen Townsend, MD
- Sabreen White, MBA
- Amanda Williams, MD, MPH