Gregory Briddick

22/01/2021

Yesterday, Upstate University Hospitals received Magnet Accreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the American Nurses Association’s Certification and Credentialing branch. Magnet Certification is obtained by less than 10% of hospitals, and is a certification which demonstrates an organization’s commitment to nursing empowerment and nursing driven change.

Upstate becomes the second hospital in the region to achieve Magnet Status (along with St. Joseph’s Health).

Hospital gets magnet status, recognizing excellent nursing care.

09/01/2021

So thankful to be supported by our leadership during this time.

13/12/2020

It’s wonderful when our administration is helping our bedside staff during this difficult time. I, as well as several of my nurse colleagues in administration, are taking nursing assignments on our previous units as the number of patients swell here in Upstate NY.

21/11/2020

Maternal Mortality Smart Facts
Gregory Briddick, MSHI, BSN, RN
Sepsis Program Coordinator
SUNY Upstate University Hospitals

What Is Maternal Mortality?
Maternal mortality is when a woman dies while pregnant or within 1 year of the termination of the pregnancy (delivery, abortion, miscarriage, etcetera), except for accidental or incidental causes of death (I.e. motor vehicle accidents, etcetera) (CDC, 2020). Maternal Mortality indexes are often used to measure the availability and quality of medical care available to the population of interest, and is often used to compare states and nations against each other. All other developed nations have similar measurements, with the differences being how long after the termination of pregnancy do they gather mortality data.

What is our current Maternal Mortality Index?
The United State of America places 20th compared to other developed nations. Zephyrin and Declercq (2020) found two concerning findings which they documented in their report:

• Maternal mortality rates in the U.S. are unacceptably high (17.4 deaths per 100,000 births) and exceed those in other developed countries. Global maternal mortality rates are declining in most countries but are unchanged in the U.S. and even increasing for some groups. https://www.pop.org/definitions-of-maternal-mortality/

• Stark and unacceptable racial and ethnic disparities persist: 37.1 deaths for non-Hispanic blacks compared to 14.7 for non-Hispanic whites and 11.8 for Hispanic women.

Not only are there unacceptable racial and ethnic disparities, the overall maternal mortality rate is increasing over the last fifty (50) years. What should be a happy and joyous time for these families is increasingly ending in sorrow.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2020). Reproductive health: pregnancy mortality surveillance system. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/pregnancy-mortality-surveillance-system.htm

Zephyrin, Laurie and Declercq, Eugene. (2020). Measuring maternal mortality. To the Point (blog), Commonwealth Fund. https://doi.org/10.26099/c14w-nq52

21/08/2020

Sepsis Awareness month is less than 2 weeks away.

Every Sepsis Awareness Month, people come together to help save lives by raising awareness of the leading cause of deaths in U.S. hospitals – SEPSIS.

13/08/2020

The first-ever Sepsis Alliance Summit is just over a month away! Do you know which sessions you’ll be attending during this free two-day conference focused on sepsis education? Join Hallie Prescott of University of Michigan and sepsis survivor Keelee Moseley on Day 2 for a timely discussion about sepsis and COVID19.

Learn more about this and other sessions and register today at www.sepsissummit.org