Obstetric outcomes at the birth place in Menlo Park: the first seven years.
During its first seven years of operation, the Birth Place, a free-standing birth center in California, registered 898 women, of whom 690 (77%) were admitted in labor and 150 (17%) were referred for hospital birth prior to onset of labor. Using carefully delineated screening criteria, the center had an overall 18% intrapartum transport rate to the hospital, primarily for prolonged or arrested labor, a 3% cesarean section rate, no maternal mortality, and one neonatal death resulting from Cornelia de Lange syndrome, a congenital mental retardation-malformation syndrome of unknown etiology, which in this case was incompatible with life. Deliveries at the Birth Place were associated with low cost, a high level of maternal satisfaction, a low cesarean section rate, low neonatal mortality, and no maternal mortality.
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O'Reilly
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D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome