Mercy Medical Center in Clinton received an elite award for its obstetric services, ranking it among the top 15 percent of hospitals in which to have a baby.
The Catholic, not-for-profit, full-service community health system earned the 2016 Women’s Choice Award® as one of America’s Best Hospitals for Obstetrics. This evidence-based designation is the only award that identifies the country’s best healthcare institutions based on criteria that consider female patient satisfaction, clinical excellence, and what women say they want from a hospital.
The list of more than 400 award winners, including Mercy–Clinton, represents hospitals that offer exceptional obstetric (OB) services which ranked above the national average for patient safety, according to a news release.
Sean Williams, president and CEO of Mercy Medical Center, expressed appreciation to all involved in Mercy’s achievement. “For several years, our OB colleagues have been dedicated to providing the highest quality of care in the safest environment for our patients. Our OB unit has been recognized on the state and national level for our efforts to lead patient safety. Receiving the Women’s Choice Award reaffirms our commitment to offer the very best care experience.”
“New moms have many choices when it comes to having their baby, so choosing the best birthing experience is right up there with choosing the best doctor. We’ve made it easy for moms to vet out the hospitals proven to deliver an outstanding experience,” said Delia Passi, CEO and founder of the Women’s Choice Award.
In 2009, Mercy’s OB unit undertook a multi-faceted Perinatal Patient Safety initiative to review all obstetric policies and procedures to ensure that the highest standards of patient safety were in place. To address each area of the initiative, five teams of colleagues focused on the categories of professional practice, fetal assessment, labor induction, second-stage labor management, and pain management. As a result, many changes were made throughout Mercy’s obstetrics service. This included encouraging all of Mercy’s OB colleagues, including partnering OB physicians, to take the national certification in electronic fetal monitoring and, for the safety of infants and mothers, eliminating elective deliveries less than 39 weeks. The initiative resulted in many positive patient outcomes, the news release stated. For the success of the initiative, Mercy’s OB Unit received the first Iowa Healthcare Collaborative Patient Safety Award, two Trinity Health Patient Safety Awards, the IONL Nursing Leadership Award, and was selected to give a presentation of the initiative in Washington, D.C.
The America’s Best Hospitals for Obstetrics scoring process is the only national list that is evidence-based and focuses on female patient satisfaction. Additional requirements included: having an NICU on-site, low rates of early elective deliveries (between 0-1 percent) as well as ranking above the national average for patient safety.
For more information about the 2016 America’s Best Hospitals for Obstetrics, visit http://www.womenschoiceaward.com/awarded/best-hospitals/obstetrics/.
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