Carroll Hospital was honored by the March of Dimes, the Maryland Patient Safety Center and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for its successful efforts in reducing the number of elective inductions and cesarean deliveries performed before 39 completed weeks of pregnancy.
On June 15, Nancy Wiley, senior community director of the March of Dimes Maryland-National Capital Area Chapter, presented staff from Carroll Hospital's maternity unit, The Family Birthplace, and members of the hospital's executive team with a banner to display indicating Carroll Hospital's commitment to improving the quality of care for mothers and babies.
To receive the honor, Carroll Hospital demonstrated it had a clear policy in place regarding elective deliveries of less than 39 weeks gestation; provided data for at least two consecutive quarters that showed the hospital had a rate below five percent for each quarter; and implemented a process for tracking and monitoring the rate of non-medically indicated deliveries less than 39 weeks gestation.
The banner program is a component of the March of Dimes "Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait" campaign, which urges women to wait for labor to begin on its own if their pregnancy is healthy, rather than scheduling deliveries before 39 completed weeks of pregnancy.