Keynote Presentation with Annie Sterle, AFE Survivor and Maternal Health Advocate
Special Viewing: 24 Days Without You A powerful look into the experience and aftermath of severe obstetric trauma told through the eyes of providers, family members, and the patient herself. Raw and vulnerable, 24 Days Without You invites reflection on clinical preparedness and the lasting influence of compassionate care.
From Both Sides of the Bedside: A Conversation on Crisis, Care, and Connection
Annie Sterle, AFE Survivor and Maternal Health Advocate; Beth Elfstrand, MD; Alicia Weyrauch, RN
Description: When an AFE upended one family’s birth experience, it also left a lasting imprint on the providers who saved her life. In this conversation between a patient, her OB, and her labor nurse, the panel explores not only the day of crisis—but the long, complex aftermath. Together, they reflect on preparedness, communication, and the path to healing that continues long after discharge.
Objectives: Reflect on how to support patients and families who go through a catastrophic event like an AFE in the moment and in the weeks that follow. Discuss trauma informed approaches and language to use with patients and family following severe events. Reflect on the lived experience of a patient and apply lessons learned to clinical practice. Analyze the emotional and psychological impact of AFE on patients, families, and healthcare providers. Evaluate the importance of teamwork, communication, and preparedness in responding to rare but catastrophic obstetric emergencies. Identify means to care for oneself and one’s coworkers following a severe event.
9:45-
10:15AM
Break, Visit with Sponsors
10:15-
11:30AM
Amniotic Fluid Embolism: Essential Resources for Healthcare Providers and Families
Miranda Klassen, Executive Director of the AFE Foundation and Beth Elfstrand, MD
Description: Amniotic Fluid Embolism (AFE) is a rare, unpredictable, and high-acuity obstetric emergency. This 60-minute session provides attendees with essential knowledge and practical tools for recognition, immediate response, coordination of care, and family support during an AFE event. The session will also emphasize specimen collection protocols, registry enrollment, and available support resources. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to improve clinical outcomes and patient-family experiences.
Objectives: Initiate an immediate, evidence-based clinical response to suspected Amniotic Fluid Embolism (AFE) to optimize maternal outcomes. Recall and apply the AFE Hotline process for specimen procurement and case submission to the AFE Registry and Biorepository. Identify and access resources available to support patients, families, and healthcare providers during and after an AFE event.
Wrap-up
Annie Sterle, AFE Survivor and Maternal Health Advocate
11:30-12:30PM
Lunch, Visit with Sponsors
12:30-1:30PM
From Chaos to Coordination: Transforming OB Emergencies Through Interdisciplinary Simulation Cheniqua Morales, BSN, RNC-MNN, C-EFM, C-ONQS
Description: In obstetric emergencies, teamwork and preparation can mean the difference between life and loss. This session explores how interdisciplinary simulation training equips clinical teams to act with confidence, strengthen communication, and deliver safer, more equitable maternal care when every second matters.
Objectives: Review the role of interdisciplinary simulation in improving communication, coordination, and decision-making during obstetric emergencies. Apply evidence-based strategies from simulation training to enhance teamwork and maternal safety in high-risk clinical scenarios. Discuss how simulation can be leveraged as a quality improvement tool to reduce disparities and strengthen equitable maternal health outcomes.
1:30-
2:30PM
CODE: Team Kerry P Appleton, MAN, RN, NBC-HWC
Description: A CODE BLUE is called, and a healthcare team jumps into action. Additional team members arrive, a procedure is followed, and live-saving care is administered to a patient in crisis. Health care is intentionally designed around the patient. Everything a healthcare team does is for the patient. But, as a healthcare team’s stress and challenge mounts, who cares for them? Objectives: Recognize signs and symptoms of stress reactions. Describe the components of real-time TEAM Defusing. Verbalize the benefits of real-time TEAM Defusing. Discern differences between real-time TEAM Defusing and other debriefing formats.
2:30-
3:00PM
Break, Visit with Sponsors
3:00-
4:00PM
Rising Together: Healing and Posttraumatic Growth for Clinicians Nicole Beckmann, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC and Kathryn Mercado, DNP, APRN, NNP-BC
Description: Healthcare workers routinely navigate moments that stretch their emotional, ethical, and professional limits. In Rising Together, Drs Nicole Beckmann & Katheryn Mercado will guide participants through an exploration of how traumatic clinical events shape the lives of healthcare professionals and how the “second victim” experience can evolve into a pathway for meaning, connection, and posttraumatic growth. Through narrative reflection, evidence-informed frameworks, and immediately usable strategies, this session invites clinicians to recognize their own responses to trauma and discover ways to heal, reconnect with purpose, and support one another. Participants will leave with practical tools and “take-home nuggets” they can begin using right away to strengthen personal resilience, foster healthier team dynamics, and build a culture where clinicians feel seen, supported, and empowered to grow after difficult events.
Objectives: Describe the emotional, cognitive, and physiological responses that clinicians may experience following rare or serious clinical events. Define the second victim phenomenon and explain its relevance to nurses and healthcare professionals across settings. Identify factors that promote healing and reduce the long-term impact of traumatic clinical experiences on individual clinicians and teams. Discuss the core components of posttraumatic growth and how these can be cultivated intentionally within healthcare environments. Apply at least three practical, evidence-informed strategies to support personal resilience and enhance peer-to-peer support after critical events. Reflect on how shared narratives and team connection can foster collective strength and a culture that supports clinicians in “rising together” after trauma.
4:00-
4:30PM
2026 AWHONN MN Advocacy and Legislative Updates Jennifer Almanza, DNP, APRN, CNM Objectives: Create awareness of AWHONN MN’s advocacy and legislative priorities. Examine key findings and recommendations on pregnancy-related deaths in Minnesota. Identify ways to be involved in AWHONN advocacy and legislative work.
Description: Obstetric sepsis is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. The goal of this talk will be to summarize what is known about sepsis and to help provide guidance on management strategies in order to optimize the care of pregnant patients with sepsis.
Objectives: Review the diagnosis of sepsis including diagnostic challenges. Review the pathophysiology of sepsis. Discuss management principles including how to minimize morbidity and mortality.
9:00-10:00AM
Neonatal Resuscitation & the Implementation of a Tele-NICU Program in a Multi-Hospital Organization Emily Bourgeois, MSN, RNC-NIC, NPD-BC
Description: This session will provide details regarding the successful implementation of a Tele-NICU program across multiple hospitals within our organization. We will discuss implementation strategies, timelines, education, and ongoing success of the program. Objectives: Describe the process for Tele-NICU rollout across multiple hospitals within our organization, including both rural and metro locations. Provide data to support ongoing use of Tele-NICU programs to reach resuscitation teams both with and without on-site NICU support. Demonstrate success of Tele-NICU program in providing resuscitative care and early transport activation to neonates who need transfer to a higher level of care.
10:00-10:30AM
Break, Posters
10:30-11:30AM
Cannabis Use in Pregnancy, Postpartum, and Infant Feeding Cresta Jones, MD
Description: This session will examine the data on perinatal cannabis exposure and provide evidence-informed guidance on care and counseling for pregnant and lactating patients who use cannabis. Objectives: Examine the evidence on cannabis exposure in pregnancy. Examine neonatal outcomes with cannabis exposure. Discuss data on cannabis exposure and lactation.
11:30-12:30PM
Enhancing Maternal and Fetal Health through Community-Based Utilization of "Count the Kicks"
Sarah Coleman, MPH
Description: Maternal and fetal health outcomes are pressing concerns, particularly in underserved communities. "Count the Kicks," an evidence-based public health program, empowers expectant mothers to track fetal movement, an essential indicator of fetal well-being. While widely recognized for its potential to reduce stillbirth rates, its impact on community-level implementation remains underexplored.
Objectives: Discuss the importance of regular and consistent monitoring of fetal movements. Emphasize the role of fetal movement monitoring in prenatal care and maternal-fetal health. Explain the steps to take if a decrease in fetal movements is detected.
12:30-
1:30PM
Lunch, View Posters
1:30-
2:30PM
Time for a Change – Prioritizing Nurse Wellbeing Kristin Waite-Labott, BSN, RN, CARN, CPRC
Description: This presentation by Kristin Waite-Labott, Founder & President of the Wisconsin Peer Alliance for Nurses (WisPAN), focuses on the mental health and substance use crisis within the nursing profession, using peer support as a core solution. The presentation concludes by listing numerous other resources, including the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988), the Healthy Nurse Health Nation program, and 12-step/recovery organizations.
Objectives: Gain an understanding of mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) within the nursing profession. Recognize a decrease in stigma by listening to a nurse’s lived experience. Recognize the indicators that a nurse may be in need of support. Identify available resources for nurses facing mental health or substance use challenges.
2:30-
3:30PM
MythBusters AWHONN Leadership Team Members
Description: Healthcare is an ever-changing landscape and some days keeping up can feel impossible. Separating fact from fiction, delivering patient-focused care in a world of social media trends & influencers, and curating evidence-based practice from the plethora of available sources is a challenge for us all. This session aims to shed light on some of the persistent myths in perinatal health and send you home with hands-on information to better equip yourself and your team.
Objectives: Discuss the importance of separating evidence-based practice from “how we’ve always done it”. Review current discrepancies in online/social media trends versus science-backed recommendations. Express ideas and resources to care for your patient and elevate your ability to help your team stay up to date.
Every Minute Counts: Optimizing Urgent Cesarean Team Response
Description: In a 2025 sample of 245 urgent Cesarean cases, the median decision-to-procedure start time was 58 minutes (mean 76 minutes), with only 9.39% of cases meeting the 30-minute decision-to-incision benchmark. Although these were not STAT cases, such delays in care may contribute to preventable maternal and neonatal complications, highlighting the need for systematic review and process improvement. 2-day Kaizen held in October with a multi-disciplinary team. Mock simulations to identify opportunities for efficiency and safety. Reduced our decision to incision time from an average of 76 minutes to current average of 42.5 minutes. Objectives: State how unclear definitions and roles contribute to delays in decision to incision time. State how clear linear steps to proceeding to the OR in a timely manner increases efficiency and safety. Describe the efficiencies and effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team approach to quality improvement.
Description: Enhanced couplet care, also called integrated family care, is a specific care model for level II+ neonates which keeps the couplet/family together in the same room. Only a handful of hospitals in North America have this care model option. Family-centered care in the NICU has been shown to improve neonatal and family outcomes. Enhanced couplet care seeks to further improve those outcomes by eliminating couplet separation when a neonate requires care beyond that of a "well baby".
Objectives: Gain an understanding of the care model "enhanced couplet care" (ECC), or integrated NICU care. Recognize the challenges of implementing ECC and collaborating with other systems. Identify the improved neonatal, maternal, and family outcomes of ECC
From Risk to Recognition: Implementing the Blue Band to Improve Awareness of Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy
Description:To improve recognition of hypertension in pregnant and postpartum patients, the Minnesota Perinatal Quality Collaborative (MNPQC) launched the Blue Band project in partnership with 11 birthing facilities across the state. Participating hospitals provided blue silicone bracelets to patients diagnosed with hypertensive disorders to serve as a visual alert tool for healthcare teams. In 2023 and 2025, MNPQC evaluated patient experiences regarding Blue Bands, drawing connections between blue band use and increased patient understanding of hypertensive disorders and perceived patient self-efficacy in healthcare settings.
Objectives:Describe the purpose of the Blue Band Project and how visual alert tools can be useful in emergency situations related to obstetrical hypertension. Identify associations between blue band usage and patient understanding of hypertensive disorders. Utilize the presented implementation strategies and evaluation results to adapt the Blue Band project to their own practice.
Description: To increase the confidence of RNs in teaching hand expression to patients in an effort to support long-term breastfeeding success.
Objectives: Describe where to find resources for teaching hand expression. Demonstrate how to gather self-assessments of confidence levels. Evaluate the effectiveness of different communication pathways.
Reduction of Nulliparous, Term, Singleton, Vertex (NTSV) Cesarean Birth Rate Through Maternal Positioning During Labor
Description: This poster presents a nurse-led quality improvement initiative that reduced Nulliparous, Term, Singleton, Vertex (NTSV) cesarean birth rates through physiologic birth education and standardized nursing labor management guidelines. Using a two-cycle PDSA framework, the project demonstrated improved maternal outcomes while also increasing nursing satisfaction. Attendees will gain insight into how nursing education, leadership, and standardized practice can drive sustainable improvement in obstetric care. Objectives: Describe how physiologic birth education and maternal positioning strategies support labor progression and reduce NTSV cesarean birth rates. Summarize the impact of standardized intrapartum nursing care guidelines and their impact on NTSV cesarean birth rate. Explain how multidisciplinary collaboration contributed to the development, implementation, and sustainability of strategies aimed at reducing NTSV cesarean birth rates.
Authors: Jennifer Thaler APRN, CNS, DNP, Mayo Clinic thaler.jennifer@mayo.edu 507-266-7360; Christine Baker, MSN, RN, CLC
Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey: I Am Because They Were. Description: In addition to incorporating annually collected statistics on maternal morbidity and mortality among women of color and their newborns, the presentation examines the historical roots of these disparities. It explores why Black women’s pain continues to be dismissed in modern medicine by focusing on the story of Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey, enslaved girls who were subjected to repeated experimental procedures without consent or anesthesia by J. Marion Sims, later known as the “Father of Gynecology.” Objective: Discuss & describe how policies affect maternity care practices and influence health inequities and disparities.
MN Affiliate of American College of Nurse Midwives
MN Milk Bank for Babies
Pregnancy Postpartum Support MN
Recovering Hope Treatment Center
Sagen Behavioral Health
Star Legacy Foundation
The Mother Baby Center Specialty Services
Additional Details:
Contact Hours: This two-day activity, including one hour for poster presentations, has been developed to meet MN Board of Nursing criteria for up to 13.5 hours (Day One 6.5 hours, Day Two 7.0 hours). Participants are responsible for determining whether the activity meets the requirements for acceptable continuing education.
Hotel Accommodations: A room block is available at the Hotel Oakdale next door to the event center. Due to system upgrades, they are unable to offer a reservation link at this time. If you would like to reserve a room, please emailbonnie@awhonnminnesota.orgfor next steps. Rooms are $99/night +taxes/fees.
Poster Presentations: Poster presentations are original and pertain to completed clinical education, leadership change, or evidence-based practice projects related to women's health, obstetric and/or neonatal practice, education, or administration. Each poster has specific, individualized objectives and presenters will be available for questions and discussion. Posters will be presented on Day Two of the conference.
Session presentations/handouts will remain available online until July 31, 2026.
Registration Cut-off / Cancellation / Late Registration Policy:
Participants registering after 4/5/2026 are not guaranteed to be listed in printed conference materials.
No refunds for no-shows or cancellations after 4/5/2026.
Registrations cancelled on or before will be 4/5/2026, minus a $30 processing fee.
While late and at-the-door registrants are welcome, rates increase $25 after 4/5/2026.
AWHONN Memberships: Discounted AWHONN memberships available (new, full memberships only). Bring your checkbooks!
Sponsors: Our sponsors ask to recevie a list of particpants (includes name, credentials, and affilation) before the conference. Contact the Conference Coordinator if you prefer not to be listed.
For further information contact: Bonnie Hansen, Conference Coordinator: bonnie@awhonnminnesota.org.
Many thanks to AWHONN MN Section Education Coordinator, Lori Dorn!
To sign up for our newsletter or if you are interested in working on the Education Committee, contact Bonnie Hansen.
Photography/Video:
PLEASE NOTE: Casual audience photographs and/or video may be taken and utilized for marketing purposes. By nature of your attendance, you are granting permission for your image to be used for our internal promotion as we see fit.
