05.21.24
Managing Early Pregnancy Complications at Oula
Oula’s care model for early pregnancy complications (EPC) was designed to offer you quick access to the evaluation, clinical insight, and support you need during this time of uncertainty.
Elements of Oula EPC care:
- Clinical Triage: When you call with concerning symptoms, you’ll quickly be connected to an Oula Nurse Practitioner or Midwife who will ask questions about your health history, your pregnancy history, and your current symptoms. Our goal is to ensure that you are guided to care in a space best equipped to handle your particular situation. Patients with mild symptoms (mild cramping, spotting or light bleeding) can be seen during business hours at Oula. Patients with more severe symptoms (heavy bleeding, severe pain, dizziness or fainting) or patients with high risk for a condition of early pregnancy called ectopic pregnancy should be evaluated right away in a hospital setting.
- Care Coordination: Your Oula Care Coordinator will walk this path with you. In addition to managing the administrative demands related to your care (ensuring that you have follow-up appointments at Oula or at our referral sites, tracking down any results or reports that our team needs to keep your care humming, sending intake documents, consent forms, or info sheets to keep you up to date, etc.), your Care Coordinator is focused on YOU and your well-being. You can expect to receive frequent phone and email check-ins from your Care Coordinator to ensure that you have the support you need.
- Ultrasound: When you call with concerning symptoms in your first trimester, we want you to have an ultrasound evaluation ASAP. Once we determine (through clinical triage) that it is appropriate for you to have care in an outpatient setting, we strive to schedule you for ultrasound on the same day or next day after your call. Oula’s amazing ultrasound team will see you in our Downtown office at 202 Spring Street in SoHo. Oula ultrasounds are evaluated quickly by our Maternal Fetal Medicine physician colleagues & you will have a phone conversation with a MFM to talk about any abnormal findings in your ultrasound.
- Lab Work: During your ultrasound appointment, you can expect to have blood drawn for labs. We test your pregnancy hormones with a “Beta HCG”, check your blood counts with a “CBC”, and determine your blood type with a “type and screen”. This first set of lab work is meant to be a “baseline” and will allow us to compare future results to initial levels.
- EPC Counseling Virtual Visit: We know you are eager to talk to a Midwife about your ultrasound and your lab results so that we can make a plan for management or follow-up. Our team will set you up for a virtual visit with an Oula midwife on the same day or next day after your ultrasound. Each counseling visit will end with clear recommendations and plans so you won’t have to wonder what happens next.
- Referrals: In most cases, we can manage your early pregnancy complication at Oula’s clinics, but some circumstances might benefit from referral to an alternate care setting or specialized provider. Our robust referral network means that we can get you just the care you need.
- Oula Urgent Line: Oula patients can access a clinician by phone 24/7. Call us at (718) 586-4944 if your symptoms are evolving or if you have urgent questions & need answers.
Early pregnancy complications are scary. We know. We’re here to help.