A study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that multistate, hospital-based quality improvement programs, including the one at South Miami Hospital’s Center for Women & Infants, can be remarkably effective at reducing early elective deliveries of babies.

 

The rate of elective early term deliveries (i.e., inductions of labor and Cesarean sections without a medical reason) in a group of 25 participating hospitals fell significantly from 27.8 percent to 4.8 percent during the one-year project period, an 83 percent decline.

 

South Miami Hospital’s Center for Women & Infants’ rate of elective early term deliveries decreased 89 percent during the one-year project period from 46 percent to 5 percent.

 

The March of Dimes, which partly funded the initiative, says this is good news because babies delivered before full-term are at increased risk of serious health problems and death in their first year of life.

 

 “Reducing unnecessary early deliveries to 5 percent means that more babies stayed in the womb longer, which is so important for their growth and development,” says Rene Paez, M.D., chief of obstetrics at South Miami Hospital’s Center for Women & Infants. “Overall, this project saw a decrease in the proportion of babies born at 37 and 38 weeks and a corresponding increase in the 39-41 week range during the one-year period studied.”

 

The Center for Women & Infants at South Miami Hospital implemented a toolkit called “Elimination of Non-medically Indicated (Elective) Deliveries before 39 Weeks Gestational Age” to guide changes in early term delivery practices. The toolkit was developed in partnership with the March of Dimes, the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative and the California Maternal Child and Adolescent Division within the California Department of Public Health. It can be downloaded free from the Prematurity Prevention Resource Center at PrematurityPrevention.org.