Almost one in three births in the U.S. involve cesarean delivery, yet many of them aren’t medically necessary. During International Cesarean Awareness month, there is an ongoing industry effort to educate healthcare providers and patients and reduce overall rates of medically unnecessary C-sections.
Hospital leaders seeking to reduce their hospital’s C-section rates benefit from OB hospitalist programs that instill standards of care throughout labor and delivery.
For example, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) committee on professional standards guidelines suggests that decision-to-delivery interval (DDI) and emergency cesarean section (CS) should not be more than 30 minutes. By having an OB hospitalist on-site 24 hours a day, hospitals can meet this goal, increasing patient safety and reducing risk.
“If we had not been in the hospital, that baby would either be significantly neurologically impaired with cerebral palsy or other brain damage or not have survived the event. The ACOG national standard says an incision should be made within 30 minutes of declaring an emergency C-section. But if physicians are not in the hospital, that 30-minute time frame is very difficult to hit under the best of circumstances.” – OBHG Hospitalist Dr. George Kingsley
OB hospitalists are the maternal safety champions of labor and delivery teams and can make an immediate impact on hospital C-section rates in many ways.
- Because OB hospitalists do not have private practices and are in the hospital 24/7/365, they have time to focus and support women during vaginal labor under safe, low-risk circumstances.
- OB hospitalists partner with patients and families regularly to help them get through labor through open communication, helping to ease anxiety.
- OB hospitalists help with admission and management protocols to ensure the team doesn’t call for a C-section prematurely.
- They support midwives, family medical doctors, and private OB/GYNs by acting as consultants.
- They partner with L&D nurses to provide a multi-layer support team for patients and families.
- Being in the L&D allows OB hospitalists to be more comfortable with fetal heart rate monitoring strips.
Contact us for more information about how OBHG can help your hospital reduce C-section rates.