FORT BRAGG, N.C. (March 7, 2016) -- According to numbers collected by the National Perinatal Information Center in 2015, Womack Army Medical Center's rates are better than both National and Department of Defense hospital averages in perinatal quality measures of the care associated with delivering babies.
The NPIC is a non-profit organization with expertise in analyzing large data sets. As a third party, hired by the Joint Commission and the Military Health System, they collect data at civilian and military hospitals to establish benchmarks.
With one of the busiest Labor and Delivery sections in the Department of Defense, Womack Army Medical Center knows the importance of providing safe, quality care to new moms and their babies. Lt. Col. (Dr.) Mark F. Sewell, Maternal Fetal Medicine, WAMC, said that the hospital has statistically better rates than DoD and national averages in five key areas that indicate perinatal quality.
The key areas are the postpartum hemorrhage rate, the primary cesarean rate, shoulder dystocia, the birth trauma rate and the unexpected newborn complication rate.
"Postpartum hemorrhage is when the mother loses a greater than average amount of blood, usually more than one liter, during delivery," said Sewell. "That rate in the overall NPIC database is 3.6 percent and the DoD rate is 3.4 percent. Womack's rate is well below both those numbers, with a rate of 2.6 percent."
The numbers in the other categories show similar results. The primary cesarean rate refers to the number of moms who have never had a cesarean section before requiring one. The cesarean rate is seen as a measure of perinatal quality. Womack's rate was the same as the DoD rate of 13.8 percent, both besting the NPIC database rate of 18.2 percent.
Shoulder dystocia is a life-threatening delivery complication associated with poorly controlled gestational diabetes and obesity. The WAMC rate, one percent, is significantly better than the NPIC (2.4 percent) and DoD (2 percent) averages.
"Womack's rate of shoulder dystocia is the lowest rate in all of the Department of Defense medical centers," said Sewell.
The unexpected newborn complication rate addresses newborn complications from "low risk" deliveries. This measure is one evaluated by the Joint Commission. Once again, WAMC has the best rate in DoD, with a rate of 3.1 percent compared to the DoD rate of 3.8 percent. Both rates best the NPIC database national average of 5 percent.
"Birth trauma covers injuries to the baby during delivery," said Sewell. "This could include fractures and lacerations. It's multifactorial, but it's still an indirect measure of prenatal quality and a direct measure of obstetric quality.
"Womack has the lowest rate in the Department of Defense in birth trauma, as well," he continued. "The rate here is .11 percent. It's statistically better than the national average of .17 percent and the DoD average of .37 percent."
Sewell said that there many factors in the delivery success at WAMC, but that it really comes down to the staff.
"We practice multidisciplinary obstetrics," he said. "The nurses, nurse midwives, nurse practitioners and physicians work together as a team to provide care. We also have a robust residency program where we use evidence-based best practices that continue to improve our outcomes."
While the numbers show a broad view of the quality care provided by the WAMC team, Sewell said, it really comes down to ensuring each individual patient gets the treatment they need.
"We provide good care and that shows in our birth outcomes," he said. "However, it's really about taking the best possible care of each pregnant mom that comes through our doors."
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