Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Advancing Maternal Health, Equity, and Academic Leadership

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Advancing Maternal Health, Equity, and Academic Leadership · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is where health care leadership comes together.
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  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
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  hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
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  speakers to Chicago April.
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  This series event includes keynote conversations with Dallas
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  Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George
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  w Bush. For the agenda and event details,
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  visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
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  in Chicago.
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  This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Health
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  Care Podcast. I am thrilled today to be
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  joined by a brilliant leader. We're joined today
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  by doctor Margaret Larkins
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  Pettigrew.
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  And and doctor Pettigrew is a master's in
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  education.
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  She's a fantastic leader.
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  Just a a a pleasure to visit with
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  her today. Doctor Larkins Pettigrew, can you take
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  a moment to introduce yourself and and tell
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  us a little bit about what you do?
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  Okay. So it's a pleasure. Thank you for
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  this opportunity. So, I'm currently I'm I'm an
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  expert in OB GYN,
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  and my specialty is in maternal and child
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  wellness.
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  My previous practice was was really looking at
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  patients that were with HIV. My goal now
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  is to reduce, the health and wellness gap
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  for women in particular,
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  and so I've been really concentrating on that
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  space in my clinical practice.
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  I'm a professor and, an academic chair for
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  OBGYN at Drexel University School of
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  Medicine, primarily responsible for cultivating and engaging
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  faculty,
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  to really
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  foster what we can consider to be our
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  our future leaders. Right? So,
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  being mentors to our our next leaders, our
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  students, but also to make sure that the
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  faculty feel that they are part of the
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  Drexel,
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  community. Drexel is a,
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  has a
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  model that spreads across the country as far
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  as educating our our adviser or
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  our learners as well as our other faculty
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  members.
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  The last,
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  hat that I wear just to tell you
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  well, in addition to being a a professor
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  at this at Drexel University, I'm also an
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  adjunct professor
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  at the School of Medicine at UPMC in
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  Pittsburgh, Magee Women's Hospital. And my last,
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  hat that I wear that I love most,
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  is,
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  I'm the, co owner of the LMP consulting
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  group, which is a strategic planning group. We
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  really,
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  work on, strategic strategic planning and,
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  improving
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  the academic presence at all of our major
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  institutions
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  and looking at health care,
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  help looking at insurance companies, how we really
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  combine
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  that relationship between,
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  both the, academic institution as well as the
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  health care providers. So
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  that is who I am. I have a,
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  you said, my master's in education, I do,
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  and I I need that, but I'm also
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  a,
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  a,
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  a vet. And I also make sure that
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  I include that space in that people in
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  that space who've been in that in, that
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  role as well. So it's a a pleasure
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  to be here. I mean, that's an amazing,
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  amazing background.
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  I I I know professor of medicine, Obiguene,
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  assistant dean of students at Drexel, and just
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  an amazing background all the way around.
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  And and and and tell us a little
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  bit about
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  what are the trends you're watching
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  most closely in health care today? Where where
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  are you most focused? What what's what's most
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  interested you to the trends that you're watching?
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  So I'm really watching the relationship between academic
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  institutions and training institutions
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  as well as health care institutions because
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  they've had a long standing history of how
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  they navigate
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  quality health care for everybody.
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  And, you know, I'm looking at how they're
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  really, many places are successfully navigating
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  a lot of the political pressures that are
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  out there right now, a lot of the,
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  issues we have around poverty and some of
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  the social determinants of health. So I'm watching
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  watching what is really happening and how,
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  there's so much investment
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  in how to make a difference in the
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  lives of everyone
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  in, in this this current climate that we
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  have around, you know, insurance, what what we're
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  paying for, what we're not paying for, what
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  we can pay for,
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  and just basically how we continue to practice
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  humility
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  in what we do on the health care
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  system side, the insurance side, and the academic
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  side.
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  Thank you. And when you when we talk
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  about
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  maternal and fetal child care,
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  we we continue to have
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  absolutely very challenging stats in our country to
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  say the least.
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  How can we improve upon that?
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  Oh my god. I'm so glad that you
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  asked that question because
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  maternal and child health has been a challenge
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  for decades, and we have not made much
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  progress. But we now are making significant progress
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  because we are coming up with strategies that
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  are looking at root causes.
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  We know that, you know, African American women
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  have the highest rate of death, three times
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  as much as our white counterparts in in
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  pregnancy,
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  and that our babies are dying at a
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  rate of two times the amount. But there
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  should be no,
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  loss of babies or moms through pregnancy or
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  any outcome,
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  because we have the technology and everything we
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  need to make this happen. It's really making
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  sure we give better wrap around care. There
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  are some significant models that many institutions are
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  using,
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  including what we're what we're ensuring as far
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  as doula care, how we're making sure that,
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  women have
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  access to transportation,
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  housing, etcetera. So looking at some of the
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  root causes of why we have such a
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  high rate of, morbidity mortality in moms and
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  babes, looking at root causes, especially when it
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  relates to African American women and, you know,
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  long
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  term stressors that cause them to have decrease
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  in their immune systems. It can go on
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  and on. But I am so excited because
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  we're really starting to build models
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  that are working, and we're seeing them work
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  in some of the, some of the models
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  that I'm using and other people are using
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  in different states.
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  Thank you. And take a moment if you
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  don't mind. There's such a shortage of obgynes
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  that in many
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  smaller communities,
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  they're shutting down labor and delivery.
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  How do we
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  fight back on this? How do we how
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  can we what can we do to reverse
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  that trend?
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  Well, you know, one of the things that
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  we're gonna have to really do is really
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  count on our our community partners
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  who are living in some of these, OB
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  deserts and g y n get in deserts
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  to really,
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  build systems
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  that allow us to communicate better what's going
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  on in those those lives, in the homes
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  of people who don't have access to, you
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  know, brick and mortar. I think AI is
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  gonna play a significant role in how we
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  take care of people who are living in
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  many rural areas. And as we build, algorithms
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  that can help them help us diagnose those,
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  things that we don't need to really worry
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  about as far as acute acute,
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  episodes that need to to have care. But
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  we also really need to make sure that
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  we are including,
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  you know, doulas,
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  our midwives,
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  nurse practitioners
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  who are in some of those areas, you
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  know. And and even if they are not
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  there, who's in the community who can recognize
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  that there is a problem, there's an issue,
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  and they need to get some to somewhere
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  that they can get the quality of care.
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  And so we really have to make sure
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  we strategically
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  plan to fill that gap because it's happening.
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  We just don't have the workforce anymore.
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  We are we're moving into a state where
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  the workforce in both our physician population and
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  and specialist populations
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  are shorter. And but we're I believe that
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  we're gonna handle it. We if we strategically
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  look at this issue right now and and
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  what we're doing as far as the need
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  to close some of these places, that I
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  think that we're gonna make sure that people
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  can get quality care,
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  by using AI as one of the major
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  tools.
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  Thank you very, very much. And you've had
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  this magnificent leadership career. Before I ask you
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  about advice for leaders, tell us a little
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  bit about your consulting firm so people could
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  understand that a little bit and and some
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  thoughts there.
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  So I've worked with major institutions,
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  dealing strategically
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  around this area of
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  diversity, equity, inclusion, which we we we talk
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  about a lot as far as but we
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  do the work a lot more than we
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  talk about it these days. But in that
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  role, it is more than just,
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  making sure that everybody gets quality care. In
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  that role is is is to be a
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  leader,
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  to be, the advisory,
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  individual
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  who helps build
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  strategy
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  that aligns
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  with,
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  the goals,
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  the expectations, the values of an organization
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  that allows them to give the care that
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  they need. And that means that we have
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  to look at, you know, how are we
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  really in in interacting with our insurance providers?
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  You know, I work for large institutions that
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  both had insurance providers, and they are
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  key to making sure we get give better
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  care. They're not the enemy.
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  They are part of our our economic system,
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  and we need to make sure that we
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  include our all of our health care systems,
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  our insurance care systems,
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  and our community
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  as a as a team to make sure
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  that everybody gets quality care. So my organization
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  basically does that looking at both the academic
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  institutions,
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  the health care providers,
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  the community, bringing all of that together to
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  help them build a model
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  that, includes
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  many of those components
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  that,
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  builds trust, builds the the ability to really
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  get their job done in a really productive
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  way. So, you know, we're very excited about
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  what we do, related to building trust within
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  the community,
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  the communities of health care providers,
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  the academic institutions,
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  the, insurance carriers, as well as community. So,
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  that's kind of the basic thing that we
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  do, pulling all those together.
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  That that's that's remarkable. And and and talk
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  for a second, doctor Larkins Pettigrew. What advice
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  would you give to emerging leaders, to to
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  to growing leaders? What advice do you give
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  to people?
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  Well, I I think no matter where you
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  are in your career, you need to continue
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  to always,
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  have a mentor and a sponsorship,
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  but to always seek clarity and transparency
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  wherever you are because that is gonna help
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  make those strategic plans that really
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  will aid your institution
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  no matter whether large or small to make
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  those decisions that will be both profitable
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  and, productive for the communities that you serve.
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  And then, the second thing, that I always
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  think about in leadership is that, you know,
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  you need to take care of yourself. Self
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  care,
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  is so important. That means understanding what you
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  want personally and professionally,
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  how you are navigating where you are, and
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  if that's that's a good fit for you.
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  And that comes from,
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  investing in yourself, investing in your own career.
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  So that's the advice I would give any
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  leader, but young leaders really need to hear
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  that more than anything.
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  Doctor Larkins Pettigrew,
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  take a moment and tell us what you're
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  most excited about and focused on this year.
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  What are you most focused on and excited
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  about?
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  Well, I believe that this is the year
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  for a tremendous change in how we look
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  at medicine.
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  And I think that, there's this trend of,
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  you know, who needs to really be in
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  the hospital system and who can, get self
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  care, get home care. And and I think
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  that we're really moving in that direction, that
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  we're really thinking about, you know, cost effectiveness
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  and what we can treat at home and
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  what we really do need to treat in
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  the hospital systems and, you know, how we
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  are really thinking about
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  cost and how we reduce cost but continue
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  to give quality care. And I
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  I really am focused on looking in that
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  space this year, especially since we have so
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  many changes in, how we're giving OB care,
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  and how we're giving GYN care, you know,
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  throughout this country for women. So I'm excited
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  about watching so many of the trends that
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  are happening in that space.
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  Thank you very, very much. And and doctor
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  Larkin's Pettigrew, where can people learn more about
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  you? I know you've authored some books and
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  about your consulting practice. Where can people learn
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  more about
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  doctor Larkin's Pettigrew?
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  So my, Drexel email address is probably the
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  simplest one
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  to follow, and that is, mop92@Drexel.edu.
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  Doctor Larkins Pettigrew, it's it's amazing the career
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  that you're having.
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  Thank you for joining us today on the
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  Becker's Health Care podcast.
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  Thank you very, very much for joining us.
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  Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Have
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  a wonderful day.