OMC Guidelines for Peer Review and Case Review
Confidentiality
- All OMC peer review is No person who participates in the review may disclose any information acquired in the review, nor may any record of the review be released to any person.
Regular Regional Peer Review
- Regional regular peer review meetings are for the purpose of ongoing quality improvement
- Midwives and student midwives in clinical training are expected to participate regularly by:
- Presenting their own cases for review
- Reviewing the cases of their peers
- Each midwife will prepare for peer review by:
- Bringing the chart or a copy
- Preparing an outline including timeline, key lab results, relevant health history, etc.
- Reviewers will be prepared to:
- Maintain confidentiality
- Listen with empathy to the midwife’s experience
- Give feedback on midwifery care and make recommendations as needed
- Identify systems level problems that may need to be addressed
Case Review for Complex Cases & Sentinel Events
- A more structured case review is required in the following situations:
- Maternal hospitalization for infection
- Maternal hospitalization requiring blood transfusion
- Uterine Rupture
- Maternal or Neonatal Death
- Neonate admitted to NICU within 72 hours (except for observation or anomaly)
- Emergent transports
- Midwife self-requests
- Concern from community, hospital provider, or another midwife
- Case Review Guidelines:
- Conduct review within 3 months of the incident
- Review is scheduled for 2 hours
- Review should include at least one OMC trained case reviewer who is not part of the midwife’s practice
- The midwife provides a full de-identified copy of the chart for each reviewing midwife
- The review includes:
- Thorough chart review
- Midwife narrates the sequence of events
- Questions, comments, critiques and feedback from reviewers
- Creation of a plan and written recommendations for the midwife if needed
- All copies of chart will be returned to Midwife
The Intention of Case Review:
- Identify areas for improvement
- Improve charting
- Identify systems level issues that need addressed
- Identify community standards
- Identify need for continuing education on specific topics