Baystate Midwifery and Women’s Health (BMWH) was established in 1985.  Since then, the certified nurse-midwives (CNM) in the practice have delivered over 9,000 babies.  Care is provided by the 14 CNMs in the practice at 6 sites in the Springfield area.  BMWH elected to participate in the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) Benchmarking Project in order to compare its performance to national midwifery patterns and trends.  The ACNM developed and launched the benchmarking program in 2004, and midwifery practices across the United States participate on a voluntary basis.  It was established to describe, improve, and maintain the quality of midwifery care provided to women and babies, as well as to promote awareness of best practices.  Participation allows all who report to identify gaps in practice and to improve and adapt the care they provide in order to obtain and maintain superior outcomes, high satisfaction, patient safety, effectiveness, and efficiency.

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Highlights

Baystate Medical Center 

BMWH was recently recognized by the ACNM Benchmarking Program for clinical performance in 2010 among medium volume midwifery practices.  Ninety-eight midwifery practices participated in the ACNM Benchmarking Project, representing more than 53,000 births.  BMWH’s performance on key indicators includes:

• High rate of spontaneous vaginal birth – 86.9% (top 25^th percentile)
• Low rate of genital tract trauma during vaginal delivery – 35% (top 10^th percentile)
• Low rate of primary cesarean section – 10.7% (BMC = 18%)

Baystate Franklin Medical Center 

• In collaboration with community organizations, local midwives, obstetricians, and pediatricians, the Women & Children’s unit has developed the Franklin County Postpartum Coalition, which helps providers identify patients at risk for postpartum depression and provide resources for care.
• National AWHONN 2011 Outstanding Innovation Program Paper Award for the “Listening to Newborns” project.  This project supports specific evidence-based low-intervention techniques to improve neonatal attachment and bonding and decrease neonatal need for supplemental oxygen.
• The Birthplace was featured in the American Journal of Nursing article titled, “A Model of Collaborative Care at Baystate Franklin Medical Center.”
• BFMC was the Cerner “Women’s Health Unit of the Year” First Runner Up.
• The rate of primary cesarean sections is 20% compared with the state average of 31%.
• The rate of women delivered by a certified nurse midwife is 80%.

Future Work

BMWH will continue to voluntarily participate in the ACNM Benchmarking Project, as it provides comparisons for midwifery practices not generally available from other sources.  This year, focus will be on increasing rates of vaginal birth after cesarean section.

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