NUMC HELPS MOMS TO DELIVER MORE HIGH RISK PREGNANCIES TO TERM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 10, 2010
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055
NUMC HELPS MOMS TO DELIVER MORE HIGH RISK PREGNANCIES TO TERM
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF IMPROVED QUALITY OF CARE AT NUMC, AS EVIDENCED BY NICU ADMISSION PERCENTAGE GOING FROM BEING ABOVE STATE AVERAGE IN MAY 2008 TO NOW PLACING BELOW IT IN EIGHT OUT OF TEN MONTHS IN PERIOD ENDING DECEMBER 2009
East Meadow, NY……In another example of its improved quality of care, the Nassau University Medical Center is now surpassing hospitals from New York State by shepherding more and more pregnancies to full term, avoiding expensive and risky admissions to its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
In praising the obstetrics staff under the leadership of its chair, Chaur-Dong Hsu, MD, Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the NuHealth System, said: “I am proud to learn from the Healthcare Association of New York (HANYS) Hospital Specific Obstetric Report that NUMC’s NICU admission percentage, after being consistently above the state average for the previous ten months starting in May 2008, that beginning with May 2009 NUMC was significantly below the state average in eight out of the ten months ending in December 2009. This accomplishment reflects a vast improvement over the past few years, a trend that continues in the right direction by a team of professionals all pulling together, with an emphasis on patient safety culture by our obstetrics team.”
HANYS developed hospital specific reports showing how NUMC is performing on select obstetrics related quality measures. NUMC participated in New York State’s Obstetric Safety Initiative: Providing Excellence in Electronic Fetal Monitoring. This initiative is a collaboration among HANYs, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists District II, and the New York State Department of Health. Its goal is to improve perinatal outcomes and reduces NUMC’s liability exposure by providing vital education and training on a standardized approach to electronic fetal monitoring. HANYS developed three reports: Perinatal Indicator Comparative Report on data collected from May 2008 to December 2009; Electronic Fetal Monitoring Education: Progress Survey results; and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital (AHRQH) Survey on Patient Safety Culture, with survey results compared to peer group, other participating hospitals and national benchmark data.
Perinatal Indicator Comparative Report: NUMC had a significantly lower Caesarian delivery rate, higher vaginal delivery rate, higher operative vaginal delivery and lower rate of neonatal outcome indicator.
Electronic Fetal Monitoring Education: Progress Survey results: This survey demonstrated that NUMC did not have a gap in leadership and that its healthcare providers were better educated and trained in electronic fetal monitoring than peer hospitals.
AHRQH Survey on Patient Safety Culture: NUMC had a higher percentage of overall perceptions of safety, supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting safety rate, organizational education and continuous improvement rate than all New York State initiative hospitals.
“The data on the NUMC obstetrics/gynecology department’s performance is unequivocal and under Dr. Hsu’s leadership, the team has been providing superb care,” said Steven J. Walerstein, MD, FACP, executive vice president for medical affairs and medical director. “We are particularly pleased that our staff expressed confidence in our culture of patient safety. In the areas of teamwork, communication and interdisciplinary care, our staff rated NUMC’s culture of safety consistently above the level reported by other institutions in the state.”
Dr. Hsu added: “Our department continues to be recognized by HANYS as a high quality and safety compliant obstetric care facility in New York State, a tribute to our staff’s interdisciplinary teamwork and an educational commitment by the hospital’s administration to ensure that we provide the best, safest and high quality care to our patients.”
To access the HANYS Quality Institute chart that includes the percent of births with NICU admissions, with 22 hospitals in NUMC’s peer group, please click on the following link:
https://www.numc.edu/pdfs/08-09-10-1.pdf
ABOUT NUHEALTH
NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life. Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community. By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.
For more information about NuHealth or its Centers of Care, visit www.nuhealth.net.