TY - JOUR T1 - Establishing an alternative accommodation for stable hospitalised antepartum patients: barriers and challenges JF - BMJ Open Quality JO - BMJ Open Qual DO - 10.1136/bmjoq-2021-001625 VL - 11 IS - 1 SP - e001625 AU - M Brad Sullivan AU - Abby Rentz AU - Pamela Mathura AU - Megan Gleddie AU - Tania Luthra AU - Allison T Thiele AU - Katharina Kovacs Burns AU - Rebecca Rich AU - Winnie W Sia Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/11/1/e001625.abstract N2 - Background Patients in remote communities who risk premature delivery require transfer to a tertiary care centre for obstetric and neonatal care. Following stabilisation, many patients are candidates for outpatient management but cannot be discharged to their home communities due to lack of neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) support.Problem Without outpatient accommodation proximal to neonatal ICU, these patients face prolonged hospitalisation—an expensive option with medical, social and psychological consequences. Therefore, we sought to establish an alternative accommodation for out-of-town stable antepartum patients.Methods Quality Improvement approaches were used to identify process strengths and opportunities for improvement on the antepartum ward in a tertiary care centre. Physician and patient surveys informed outpatient accommodation programme development by a multidisciplinary team. The intervention was implemented using a plan–do–study–act cycle. Barriers to patient discharge and enrolment in the programme were analysed by completing thematic and strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats (SWOT) analysis.Results Physicians broadly supported safe outpatient management, whereas patients were hesitant to leave the hospital even when physicians assured safety. Our alternative accommodation was pre-existing and cost-effective, however, we encountered significant barriers. The physical space limited family visits and social interaction, lacked desired amenities,and the programme proved inconvenient to patients. The thematic and SWOT analysis identified aspects of the intervention which can be optimised to develop future actionable strategies.Conclusion The utilisation of acute care beds is costly for the healthcare system and must be allocated judiciously. Patient needs, experience and health system barriers need to be considered when establishing alternative outpatient accommodations and strategies for stable antepartum patients.All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. ER -