Sarah Detlefs, MD, MS

Dr. Sarah Detlefs is a Maternal Fetal Medicine Physician at Texas Children's Pavilion for Women and Baylor College of Medicine. She is passionate about providing comprehensive, evidence-based and compassionate care for patients with complex fetal and maternal medical conditions in pregnancy. She has a particular interest in pregnant patients with hematologic, oncologic, neurologic and substance use disorders. These conditions require multidisciplinary care, and Dr. Detlefs enjoys building relationships with other subspecialists to help patients and their providers navigate complicated pregnancies. Through this collaboration with hematology colleagues, she was awarded a research grant to study iron deficiency with or without anemia in pregnancy.

Dr. Detlefs is also dedicated to medical education and research. Since earning a MS degree in healthcare simulation, she has spent over a decade working in medical simulation at multiple simulation centers; she has a particular interest in simulation debriefing. She is the Director of Simulation for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine and the Associate Medical Director of Simulation for the Texas Children's Simulation Center. Her responsibilities include teaching faculty, fellows, residents, nursing staff and all other patient care team members. Her simulation passions are working with multidisciplinary teams in emergent situations, crisis resource management skills, designing new simulation curricula and mentoring simulation educators. As an example, she has spent over 10 years teaching and researching maternal cardiac arrest and has learned a great deal about teaching management of low frequency, high intensity events.

She is looking forward to assuming the role of Chair of the Perinatal Guidelines Committee, which supports all Texas Children's and Baylor obstetrics providers in delivering evidence-based care. This includes protocolization of obstetric emergencies and working closely with the quality team for the Pavilion for Women.

I highly value patient-centered, evidence-based care. Above all, I value creating a connection with my patients. My values help me guide them through complex pregnancies and difficult decision-making that require careful risk/benefit discussions. I enjoy explaining medical concepts in a way that is meaningful for patients and allows them to better understand their medical conditions as they pertain to pregnancy and beyond.

I discovered medical simulation in college and it furthered my passion for hands-on education. In my current Baylor College of Medicine and TCH Simulation roles. I strive to help learners see the value and comfort in simulation, especially those who are initially resistant to these learning experiences.

When I am not at work, I enjoy spending time with my husband and two children as well as all of our animals.