Saturday, December 21, 2024
12/21/2024
PROJECT DESCRIPTION The goal of this project is to develop a nationally accredited in-hospital birth center: an Alongside Midwifery Unit (AMU) beside Women and Infants Hospital’s (W&I) new Labor and Delivery Center. This differs from the labor and delivery center in that it is a dedicated and protected space for normal physiologic birth. This model of care is a wellness model of pregnancy and birth guided by the principles of prevention, sensitivity, safety, appropriate medical intervention, and cost effectiveness. The purpose of this new service is to provide healthy birthing individuals the option to give birth in protected, dedicated space for normal physiologic birth in a team led by experts in low-risk birth; Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM). This unique model of care historically and consistently provides excellent perinatal outcomes; specifically lower cesarean rates, and higher breastfeeding rates than traditional care, while reducing the risks and costs of surgical birth and decreasing hospital length of stay. Additionally, this unit would serve as a valuable interprofessional training site for doulas, midwives, and primary care providers, mitigating the state’s current shortage of these professionals. W&I has had the only state-approved in-hospital Alternative Birth Center (ABC) since 1986, when the facility was built. In preparation for the building of a new labor and birth unit, a group of the hospital midwives conducted a historical analysis of the ABC to understand the internal and external barriers to utilization over the 35 years, as well as a SWOT analysis. They brought together a multi-stakeholder team inclusive of community members to envision a labor and birth unit that is sustainable, supportive, cost-efficient, and provides optimal experiences of care in which every family has equitable and positive outcomes. The process brought the group to an innovative solution: an accredited Alongside Midwifery Unit. Key stakehold ers voiced unanimous support for a proposed AMU as part of a new hospital redesign. The AMU addresses system level change, protected space for physiologic birth, and disparities in outcomes and experience of care. The dedicated AMU requires renovating spaces, environmental redesigns, and specialized equipment. There will be 2 redesigned birthing rooms. The rooms will be designed for a homelike, non-institutional ambience: spacious conditions to accommodate the birthing person, support persons, care providers, and staff; concealed medical equipment; and space and equipment for comfort measures and labor tools (showers and tubs, rebozo, birthing balls). Each room will include features that support physiologic birth, such as birthing tubs. There will be a shared family room easily, accessible to the birthing rooms, that includes a kitchenette, a play area for children, and chairs and sofas. Finally, the redesign would include attached workspaces for care providers and staff. With these renovations and equipment, the AMU would meet accreditation requirements for the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers, which reflects the best practices and highest quality of care. This project will improve maternal healthcare in Rhode Island, contributing to healthy families across the state. In addition to providing care, the AMU addresses several workforce development issues important to Rhode Island. For example, we are planning a midwifery learning and fellowship programs in partnership with Frontier University and Yale School of Nursing that is aimed at growing and diversifying Rhode Island’s midwifery professionals. This will address a workforce shortage of experienced community nurse midwives, recruit diverse faculty and clinicians, provide mentored support to facilitate retention, and transition new practitioners to complex health problems and systems in a manner that supports their confidence and competence.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).