The University of Tennessee Medical Center Earns Distinction as TeamBirth Recognized Site
Knoxville, Tennessee, May 8, 2024 – The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) is pleased to announce our achievement of TeamBirth Recognition. This recognition is a testament to the dedication of our staff and leadership to ensuring that every patient’s voice is heard throughout the birth experience.
“At UT Medical Center, we want all people giving birth and the clinicians who care for them to feel empowered to participate in decisions made during labor and delivery,” said Dr. Kimberly Fortner, Vice President of the Center of Women & Infants at UTMC. “TeamBirth moves us closer to that goal by fostering teamwork and communication among physicians, nurses, staff and the person giving birth ensuring our patients feel heard and supported from the moment they walk into the hospital.”
UT Medical Center implemented TeamBirth in 2022 to optimize teamwork and communication before, during, and after labor and delivery. Through structured huddles and a shared planning board, TeamBirth empowers patients, their support people, and their clinicians to reach care decisions together. The result is more dignified, respectful care that gives patients the role that they want. TeamBirth was developed by the Delivery Decisions Initiative at Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA.
The Recognition program aims to honor hospital sites that center patient autonomy and dignity throughout the birthing process with a sustained TeamBirth practice. Recognition is achieved when a site attests to core components of TeamBirth, submits results from an observed huddle, and demonstrates ongoing commitment to TeamBirth through an engagement activity.
“TeamBirth provides a standard structure of communication that occurs among people giving birth, their families, and their health care professionals,” said Amber Weiseth, DNP, MSN, RNC-OB, Director of the Delivery Decisions Initiative at Ariadne Labs. “We're so encouraged by UTMC’s leadership and staff for this ongoing commitment to ensure that every patient has a voice in the decisions made throughout their birthing process."