Date of this Version

12-1-2022

Document Type

DNP Project

Abstract

Background

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists may be impacted by the growing minority maternal mortality and complications of obstetric care. Healthcare providers will be held accountable for the adverse health outcomes of minority obstetric patients by completing the Multidimensional Cultural Humility Scale and Cultural Humility Scale educational tools which shed light on racial biases. The U.S is ranked 46th in maternal mortality, reflecting a rate that has doubled since 1990, and includes an exponential increase in the African American (AA) population. The significance of the problem is seen in the comparison of mortality ratios between white women, black women, and women of other races during childbirth. Promoting cultural humility by instituting educational tools is the proposed solution to combat the disproportionate rate of AA maternal mortality.

Methods

Utilizing CINAHL and MEDLINE the keywords “Cultural humility” “African American”, and “maternal mortality” were searched yielding 133 results. Applying inclusion criteria resulted in 3 articles included in this study. An educational module and pre- and posttest test questionnaire were prepared and disseminated to anesthesia providers based on the selected evidence with the intent to answer the question: In minority obstetric patients, how effective are cultural humility educational tools in improving healthcare providers accountability and awareness for racial inequalities in obstetric healthcare?

Results

The baseline knowledge was 49% on the pretest and 73% on the posttest, reflecting a 24% knowledge increase. Limitations were a small sample size and time constraints to administer the pre and post survey. Implementation of both scales may bridge the gap between cultural humility and AA maternal mortality by increasing awareness of providers to diverse patients.

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