Obstetric care is one of the most complex, high-stakes areas in healthcare — and one of the most scrutinized. Effective management of emergencies like postpartum hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders requires a strong system of care. 

Yet many of the most pressing challenges stem from systems-level gaps: the structures, processes, and resources that support (or hinder) safe, effective care. 

For OB/GYN leadership, risk managers, and quality teams, the end goal is not just to reduce preventable harm but also to strengthen the systems and teamwork that enable consistent, patient-centered maternity care — ensuring timely recognition, prevention, and management of complications. 

Simulation offers a path forward. In obstetrics, experience is critical—but it takes years to build. Waiting to accumulate experience in low-frequency, high-acuity events is not a reliable way to prepare. 

Using simulation to recreate critical obstetric events in a safe, controlled environment can expose weaknesses in workflows, protocols, and resources. This allows you to address system-level vulnerabilities before they impact real patients. 

In this article, we explore some of today’s top challenges in obstetrics and how simulation can help create a safer system. 

Preeclampsia and Hypertensive Disorders

The system challenge: Breakdowns often happen not from lack of knowledge, but from unclear escalation protocols, missed diagnostic cues, and poor communications. 

How simulation helps: A high-fidelity maternal and birthing simulator provides the ability to recreate preeclampsia and hypertensive disorder scenarios – allowing you to address systems challenges. In this risk-free environment, you can test factors like monitoring systems, escalation protocols, and specialist availability. As issues are uncovered and addressed, simulation can be later used again to test the effectiveness of your mitigation strategies.  

To deepen the impact of your scenarios, pairing them with a simulation management and recording system can be transformative. By automatically capturing video of your sessions, these platforms allow you to review workflows, communication handoffs, and escalation processes in detail.  

Built-in AI capabilities further streamline the process by generating checklists and searchable transcripts to aid debriefing. This added layer of efficiency makes it faster and easier to pinpoint bottlenecks, guide focused discussions, and identify the system changes needed for a seamless, coordinated response. 

Medication Errors

If you are like many in Obstetrics, medication errors are a point of major concern.

The system challenge: In high-stress obstetric emergencies, medication errors – from incorrect dosing to mislabeling – are a significant risk. These errors frequently stem from workflow design, labeling practices, or pump programming – not simply individual oversight.  

“The ‘five rights’ of medication administration focuses on individual factors and not necessarily on system flaws,” explains Jennifer Vuu Sanchez, RN, Patient Safety Program Director at CRICO. “So it is possible that even if a nurse completes the five rights of medication administration, there could be systems issues in place that may interfere with safe medication practices.”⁷  

How simulation helps: Medication-focused simulations recreate administration processes from end to end, exposing where the system is vulnerable. You can then refine labeling standards, storage protocols, and communication workflows to prevent errors before they reach patients. 

Diagnostic Challenges 

The system challenge: Misdiagnosis and delay in diagnosis are significant contributors to preventable harm in obstetrics.⁸ But too often, diagnosis is treated as an individual’s judgment, when evidence shows that errors usually stem from system failures, not personal shortcomings.⁹  

Common systems failures are delays in information flow, lack of decision-support tools, and unclear escalation processes. 

How simulation helps: Diagnostic simulations highlight whether teams are supported with the right data, pathways, and resources to act decisively. Simulation allows teams to practice the diagnostic process and get real-time feedback.  

Simulations yield data that can help pinpoint which obstetric cases have the most frequent diagnostic errors, allowing you to prioritize them for quality improvement. A simulation management system can help you organize the data and gain actionable insights.  

Our Commitment to Improving Maternal Outcomes

Laerdal's mission is Helping Save Lives. We believe that no one should die or be disabled unnecessarily during birth, from sudden illness, trauma, or medical errors.

We are committed to providing tools that empower healthcare systems to deliver the best possible care for mother and baby.

We’re doing some exciting things in the field of Healthcare Quality Improvement. Follow our Healthcare Quality Improvement hub page for more resources.