Focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Kimberly Jones-Beatty Seeks Data-Driven Solutions to Maternal Mortality Crisis the Johns Hopkins Integrated Research Center for Fetal Medicine,” Jones-Beatty said. “As a clinical practitioner, I strive to provide evidence-based care. As a researcher, I see that we contribute to evidence-based care through translational research; by generating new knowledge or validating existing knowledge in both basic science and clinical research and applying it to clinical practice to improve patient care and outcomes. It’s the best of both worlds.”
It’s one thing to identify a problem. It’s quite another to find a solution. Yet that is what Kimberly Jones-Beatty, CNM, DNP, Class 37, is striving to do. The problem has become increasingly well known, as the alarming numbers depicting the maternal mortality crisis in the United States persist. In 2018, there were 17 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the U.S. — a ratio more than double that of most other high-income countries, and the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries.^ The data is even more concerning for Black and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) women, who have pregnancy-related mortality rates that are over three and two times higher, respectively, compared to the rate for white women.* The data confirm the problem, but it does not offer a solution. Jones-Beatty, who works as a certified nurse-midwife within the OB/GYN department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, has been practicing midwifery for 12 years. “I work in a dual clinical/research role through providing ambulatory obstetric care and overseeing clinical research in 6 Frontier Nursing University • Quarterly Bulletin
“Maternal morbidity and mortality are at an all-time high in the United States, and research shows that the majority of cases occur within the postpartum period.” -- Kimberly Jones-Beatty
Jones-Beatty put her research passion and skills to work in her DNP project, which focused on learning more about the maternal mortality crisis and its potential solutions. “My DNP project focused on improving postpartum care,” she said. “Maternal morbidity and mortality are at an all-time high in the United States, and research shows that the majority of cases occur within the postpartum period. The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) has called for a paradigm shift in postpartum care by moving away from the single sixweek visit and instead incorporating an ongoing postpartum process beginning in the antenatal period to impact adverse pregnancy outcomes and maternal morbidity and mortality rates. The aim of the project was to increase effective postpartum care through patient preparedness, early one-to-three-week patient follow-up, and comprehensive postpartum visits from 0% to 80% in eight weeks.”
