Patient Safety Bundles

Patient safety bundles are a structured way of improving the processes of care and patient outcomes. They are collections of evidence-informed best practices, developed by multidisciplinary experts, which address clinically specific conditions in pregnant and postpartum patients.

The goal of the patient safety bundles is to improve the way care is provided to improve outcomes. A bundle includes actionable steps that can be adapted to a variety of facilities and resource levels.

AIM Patient Safety Bundles

There are eight AIM patient safety bundles, which are supported by quality metrics from the AIM Data Center. These bundles serve as the foundation of the AIM program’s efforts to address preventable severe maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States. HRSA funds these resources as part of the AIM Program.

Bundle Element Context and Reference List (All Bundles)

Cardiac Conditions in Obstetric Care

Obstetric Hemorrhage

Perinatal Mental Health Conditions

Postpartum Discharge Transition

Safe Reduction of Primary Cesarean Birth

Sepsis in Obstetric Care

Severe Hypertension in Pregnancy

Substance Use Disorder

Respectful Care

AIM patient safety bundles offer adaptable guidance to improve quality and safety. While each bundle features a dedicated Respectful Care section to highlight supportive, patient-centered practices, these principles are woven throughout the entire bundle. These concepts inform every stage of design and implementation to ensure respectful, supportive, and patient-centered care from every provider in every setting.

Data and Metrics Support Bundle Success

Quality improvement data tracks implementation progress and evaluates patient safety bundle success. To support bundle implementation and data-driven quality improvement, AIM uses the following types of metrics for its bundles: Process, Structure, and Outcome Measures. We also include State Surveillance Measures.

Process Measures

Process measures are used to monitor the adoption and implementation of evidence-based practices. By using data to track processes of care and examining these data disaggregated by various characteristics, facility teams can identify areas for improvement and intervention.

Structure Measures

Structure measures are used to assess if standardized, evidence-based systems, protocols, and materials have been established to improve patient care. Through adoption and regular review of structures, facility teams improve their readiness to respond to an obstetric event and provide high quality care to every patient, every time.

Outcome Measures

Outcome measures can be used to examine changes that occur in the health of an individual, group of people, or population that can be attributed to the adoption of clinical best practices. Outcome measures include severe maternal morbidity and the rate of nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex Cesarean births, and should be disaggregated by a variety of characteristics to examine different health outcomes. Outcome measures are typically calculated by state and jurisdiction teams and shared with participating facilities.

State Surveillance Measures

Statewide, public health metrics used to monitor health outcomes that cannot be easily attributable to a specific facility.

Screenshot of AIM PSB Data Collection plan pages

AIM Data Collection Plans

Available for each patient safety bundle, AIM data collection plans serve as functional codebooks. Each plan provides an overview of data sources, measure definitions, bundle-specific metrics, and annotations tracking changes over time.

Download the Full List of Data Collection Plans