Substance use during pregnancy is a growing public health concern and accidental overdose is a leading cause of maternal death in Colorado. In my role as a recovery nurse advocate at Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital, I am part of a team that works to meet this challenge by ensuring mothers with a substance use disorder have access to critical help.
Lutheran was recently recognized by the Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative for being the only hospital in the state to achieve 100% success in providing social work consultation to every mother with a substance use disorder. This milestone is part of the Turning the Tide initiative, a statewide effort to improve care for pregnant and postpartum women impacted by substance abuse.
Turning the Tide provides hospital-based teams like ours with the tools, proven practices, and guidance for us to treat substance use disorder as a medical condition and reduce the stigma associated with it.
Moms-to-be who have a substance use disorder often fear being judged or losing their child because of their substance use. Some of them are scared by what it means to go through withdrawal if they stop using substances.
Through our recovery nurse advocate program and with the support of Turning the Tide, we have reduced the stigma around using addiction medicine services for opioid use disorder among pregnant women, meaning more mothers are able to access the personalized care they need.
I receive referrals from our care management team as well as other medical providers or county agencies. I visit patients in their homes, working with mothers to identify their needs. That can range from basic prenatal education to answering questions about labor and delivery and how to manage pain with someone who has a substance use disorder.
We discuss safe breastfeeding and potential health challenges of a newborn that has been exposed to substances. After the delivery, if the baby requires a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, I provide support there as well.
The extra support we continue to give new moms after the baby is born is crucial because the greatest risk of relapse occurs in that eight-to-12-month period postpartum.
I have seen many success stories in my nine years in this role, and they are inspirational. Previous patients ask to be part of the program for a subsequent pregnancy even though they sustained sobriety, but they still want this type of support.
Some patients have even reached out to me just to say, “Hey, we’re doing great!”
Lutheran Hospital and Intermountain Health Platte Valley Hospital are part of the Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative that connects hospitals across Colorado setting a standard for stigma-free, family-centered care.
Michelle Deuto has been the recovery nurse advocate at Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital and helped create the program in 2016. She joined Lutheran Hospital as a new graduate nurse in 2002 and had previously worked in mental health.
