Metro Drug Coalition plans ACEs toolkit, academic detailing for OBGYNs to reach pregnant women

Karen Pershing, representing Metro Drug Coalition, told the Resilient Tennessee meeting the organization's grant will target obstetric providers across East Tennessee to introduce ACEs‑informed care and resiliency screening into prenatal settings. Pershing said the project aims to develop an ACEs toolkit, recruit OB champions for an advisory board, provide academic detailing (short practice‑based educational sessions), and offer continuing medical education opportunities for clinicians.

Pershing cited state data to frame the need: "1 in 5 pregnant women will suffer from maternal mental health disorders" and "less than 15% will actually receive treatment," and she said Tennessee’s infant mortality is around "7 out of every 1,000." She described a phased approach: toolkit development with practitioner feedback, practice‑level academic detailing by clinician educators (Sharon Moore and Hope Nelson), pre/post measurement of clinician knowledge and comfort, and an annual conference to sustain CME and dissemination.

Pershing acknowledged barriers to clinician engagement — short visit times and competing screening requirements — and described strategies to overcome them, including physician champions to open doors and concise micro‑sessions designed to make practice implementation easier. The project will partner with Cherokee Health Systems and other regional clinics and use data collection to assess changes in provider comfort and referral behavior.

Pershing invited collaborators and offered contact information for follow‑up; she framed the intervention as both prevention and a pathway to improve maternal and infant outcomes.