Identifying Racial Disparities Based on PA-PSRS Maternal Complication Reports: Limited Demographic Data Results in Inconclusive Findings

​Rebecca Jones, MBA, RN, Patient Safety Authority​

ORCID iD​  

Rebecca Jones (rebejones@pa.gov) is director of Data Science & Research at the Patient Safety Authority.

​Data from the National Vital Statistics System reflect a maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black or African American mothers that is 2.6 times higher than for non-Hispanic White mothers. Although the definition upon which the maternal mortality statistics are based differs in many ways from the definitions of reportable patient safety events in Pennsylvania, the Patient Safety Authority (PSA) sought to determine whether reports of maternal complications in the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS)[1] suggest a similar disparity.

Key Words

​ patient safety, maternal complications, demographic data, racial disparity​