AWHONN Summit: Bridging the Gap Between Obstetric and Emergency Departments to Improve Maternal Mortality

A dynamic, practical summit designed to unite obstetric and emergency care teams. Learn proven strategies through expert-led sessions, a powerful patient story, and hands-on table topics—so you can so you can apply these strategies the very next shift.

Hilton Fort Worth • 815 Main St., Fort Worth, Texas
February 1, 2026 | 9 am – 5 pm CT
6.0 CNE/NCPD | $325 Registration fee

Who should attend

  • OB providers, CNMs, L&D and Mother–Baby nurses
  • Emergency department (ED) and freestanding ER teams
  • Nurse leaders across OB and ED
  • EMS providers and rural health facilities

What you’ll take away

  • Clear, actionable strategies to improve maternal & neonatal outcomes across care settings
  • Multi-disciplinary workflows you can implement immediately
  • Ideas for interdisciplinary drills, simulations, and debriefs

Featured Topics

Keynote: Saving Lives Together: Obstetric Life Support and Collaborative Response to Maternal Mortality, Speaker: Dr. Andrea Shields
Session: A Mother’s Voice: Learning from Lived Experience to Transform Maternal Care, Speaker: Nicole Purnell, Momma’s Voices

Interactive Table Topics

Participants will have the opportunity to engage with experts for fast paced, 20 minute rotations and learn effective strategies about the following topics:

  • Obstetric Simulation with EMS & Rural teams
  • Human Trafficking in healthcare setting
  • Simulation with multidisciplinary teams
  • Patient debriefing and advisory councils
  • Gamification for emergency readiness
  • Substance Use Disorder
  • Neonatal stabilization and transport

Meet The Keynote: Dr. Andrea Shields

Saving Lives Together: Obstetric Life Support and Collaborative Response to Maternal Mortality

Explore the transformative impact of the OBLS program and how vital partnerships among OB practitioners, emergency departments, EMS, and community stakeholders are improving maternal outcomes and reducing mortality through coordinated, evidence-based emergency care.

Professor & MFM Fellowship Program Director, UConn Health • Chair, ACOG Practice Bulletins – Obstetrics • ABOG Specialty & Subspecialty Board Examiner

Dr. Shields co-created Obstetric Life Support (OBLS), an evidence-based curriculum that equips teams to prevent and manage maternal medical emergencies and cardiac arrest. She is CEO of Varda5, LLC, focused on scalable simulation training and interdisciplinary collaboration to advance maternal emergency readiness. Her clinical expertise includes maternal sepsis and cervical insufficiency, with specialization in cerclage procedures.

Questions? Contact Stephanie Fassett at sfassett@awhonn.org

Accreditation Statement

Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Accredited status does not imply endorsement by AWHONN or the American Nurses Credentialing Center of any commercial products displayed or discussed in conjunction with an educational activity.

AWHONN is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #CEP580.