At the start of this year, SSM Health hospitals in Wisconsin began providing new moms with post-birth alert bracelets to wear for at least six weeks.
These orange plastic bracelets visually identify new moms to medical teams. Knowing that a patient has recently given birth, medical personnel could quickly identify post-pregnancy complications such as a blood clot, hemorrhaging, sepsis or cardiomyopathy.
SSM Health has seven hospitals in Wisconsin. A clinical nurse specialist has been educating clinicians in those hospitals about the bracelet program and building awareness of the bracelets among local emergency medical services personnel and clinicians at area health care facilities.
SSM Health clinicians also are educating new moms about potential postpartum complications at 36-week prenatal visits and after delivery. The post-birth alert bands help reinforce that education and increase awareness of potential complications for patient and family recognition, in addition to alerting the health care team, according to information from SSM Health.
Use of post-birth bracelets started in Florida in 2023 and is spreading nationwide. This is the first time the bracelets have been used in Wisconsin, according to a press release from SSM Health.
The health system is using the bracelets because there are many health conditions that can threaten a new mom’s life in the first few weeks after she has given birth. Michele Schiess, acute care and emergency services director for SSM Health in Monroe, Wisconsin, says in the release that "many postpartum deaths could be avoided if post-pregnancy and delivery complications were considered earlier in emergencies. These bracelets could save lives by making emergency responders and clinicians aware of potential complications earlier in an emergency, leading to better care for women in this critical postpartum time."
Further reading: CommonSpirit's St. Anne Hospital near Seattle offers new moms vital support to ward off health problems