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Research continues to confirm what most reasonable person would assume -- babies know when to be born! A developing baby will release hormones to trigger labor once her lungs are developed! When a pregnancy is followed closely and a woman is healthy, she can consider her "due date" as an indication of "around the time" her baby will be born. The message is clear: without evidence of significant risks, hold back on intervention.
With the skyrocketing number of "planned c-sections" skewing a community's view of "normal", governing bodies are beginning to ask hospitals, and the doctors who deliver, to be more accountable for their decision to induce early labor.
Debbi Amis, a leader in the field of childbirth education (from The Family Way, Plano Texas), provides up-to-date facts on reporting changes which are likely to impact the action of OBs in a facility.
Effective April 2010, hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission will be required to report on new perinatal quality measures which include the number of elective deliveries (both vaginal and cesarean) performed before 39 completed weeks gestation; cesarean rate for low-risk first birth women; and the number of women exclusively breastfeeding at hospital discharge. These new measures are based on measures endorsed by the National Quality Forum (NQF). Hospitals will want to minimize the number of elective deliveries performed before 39 weeks and the cesarean rate for low-risk first birth women, and to maximize the number of women exclusively breastfeeding at discharge. How will these new quality measures affect childbirth education? READ ON