The KyPQC Obstetrical Workgroup is dedicated to developing and implementing quality improvement initiatives in the prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum care settings. The goal of the KyPQC Obstetrical Workgroup is to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity in Kentucky. This workgroup promises to promote the use of data-driven, evidence-based processes to improve overall maternal health outcomes during the perinatal period.
This initiative aims to increase screening for substance use disorder (SUD) and/or opioid use disorder (OUD) on the Labor & Delivery (L&D) Unit through use of a validated screening tool, as well as establish evidence-based pain management protocols for pregnant women with SUD/OUD during childbirth and the postpartum period.
Increase the number of women screened with a validated tool for SUD/OUD on the L&D Unit.
Develop and promote evidence-based pain management protocols specifically for women with increased pain sensitivity associated with SUD/OUD in the Labor & Delivery setting.
Ensure patient satisfaction in appropriately managing pain before, during, and after delivery.
Dr. Ayesa Hilvano currently serves as the Obstetric Anesthesia Director at St Elizabeth Healthcare - Edgewood Hospital in Edgewood, KY and is a council member with the Women Health Institute at St Elizabeth Healthcare. Dr. Hilvano also serves as the Board Director at Seven Hills Anesthesia in St Elizabeth Division and Chairs the Compliance Committee at Seven Hills Anesthesia. Dr. Hilvano is a Diplomate in the American Board of Anesthesiology.
Dr. Neese is a practicing Obstetrician/ Gynecologist in Louisville, KY. She is the current Medical Director of Quality for Women’s Services at Norton Healthcare. Lyndsey is also the Treasurer for the Kentucky Section of ACOG. She completed her medical degree at the University of Alabama Birmingham and her Residency training at the University of Louisville. Dr. Neese’s mission is to provide safe, equitable care for all women.
Dr. John O’Brien specializes in Obstetrics and Gynecology Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Kentucky, where he serves as Medical Director for Labor and Delivery and Professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. O’Brien graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan with a B.A. in Biology and from Wayne State University in Detroit with an M.D. in 1988. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1992 and a Fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine in 1994 at the University of Tennessee.
Cheryl Parker is the Director of Nurse Anesthesia Program at the University of Louisville and an Independent Obstetric Anesthetist, practicing with Obstetric Anesthesia Consultants at both Norton Hospital and Norton Women’s and Children’s in Louisville. Her 27 year nursing career includes Postpartum, L&D, High-risk Newborn, OB-Anesthesia, and Education. She earned her MSN/CRNA in 2007 and her DNP in 2014, from Murray State University. She is an active member of AANA, SOAP, and AWHONN. She has published articles & podcasts on Rape-Trauma Syndrome, and Lower extremity nerve injury during childbirth; and contributed to the development of AWHONN's EBP guidelines and practice briefs for Anesthesia during the intrapartum period. In 2020 she was instrumental in the submission and acceptance of KY-HR73; approving legislation to establish January 23rd as Women’s Health Awareness Day; making Kentucky the 5th state in the nation to inaugurate an MHA resolution.
Dr. Sara Petruska is a generalist obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Louisville, where she serves as Medical Director for Labor and Delivery and Medical Student Clerkship Director. She graduated from Boston College with a B.S. in 1994 and from the University of Florida with an M.D. in 2000. She completed residency training in 2004 and a fellowship in Medical Education in 2008 at the State University of New York Stony Brook. In 2008, she relocated to Louisville with her husband Jeff as they joined the faculty of the University of Louisville together. She believes we are at our best when we are a team with the patient at the center.
Dr. Yunus Shah is a dedicated, Board Certified Physician specializing in the practice of Anesthesiology with particular interests/expertise in the fields of Obstetric Anesthesia, Pain Management and Addiction Medicine. He serves as the attending Anesthesiologist for Labor and Delivery at Norton Hospital and Norton Women and Children’s Hospital in Louisville, KY. Dr. Shah specializes in ante-partum consults for high risk/complicated pregnancies, intra-partum management with whole range of analgesia and anesthesia options, general anesthesia, epidural/spinal/CSE neuraxial anesthesia, as well as IV medications for pain control.
Linda Berry, RN, MSN, Linda Berry currently serves as a clinical Nurse Coordinator at the University of Kentucky. She completed BSN at the University of Kentucky and MSN at Benedictine University. Her interest in quality obstetric care was developed and nurtured early in her nursing career at the University of Kentucky. As a native Kentuckian, she is familiar with the challenges that lack of access to quality and appropriate health care pose. She found myself being drawn to extremely ill and complex obstetric cases. Her curiosity for care coordination and case management grew and she began to question how patient outcomes would be affect if more concerted efforts were made at the beside and extended to ambulatory care. When she left the bedside to strengthen care coordination at Polk Dalton's OB/GYN clinic in 2013. There, she had the opportunity to participate in the development of the Perinatal Assisted Treatment Home (PATHways) program for pregnant women with opiate use disorder and to work toward more succinct care for women with language and financial barriers.