MedScape Medical News: Troubling Gap in Hospitals’ Obstetric Complication Rates

This article is about the need for feedback to hospitals about their rates of OB complications compared to other hospitals. What I took away from this article from is absolute horror that US hospitals are doing so poorly.

“At low-performing hospitals, 22.55% of patients delivering vaginally experienced major complications such as hemorrhage, infection, lacerations, and thrombotic events, as well as uncommon complications including heart, respiratory, or kidney failure. At high-performing hospitals, the rate was 10.42%. For cesarean deliveries, mothers at low-performing centers had nearly 5 times the rate of major complications as those at their high-performing counterparts: 20.93% vs 4.37%. “We were struck by the magnitude of the variability with cesarean deliveries,” Dr. Glance said.”

Wow! At the ‘good’ institutions the rate of “major complications” for women delivering vaginally was 10.42%?!?! Crazy. We should, and can, be doing so much better.

 

Michelle
May all babies be born into loving hands