Boone Family Birthplace Achieves High Care Standards

 We are excited to celebrate excellence in women’s health care at Boone Hospital Center, as evidenced by our remarkable achievements of zero early elective deliveries and zero abdominal hysterectomy surgical site infections throughout 2015.

Approximately 10 to 15 percent of all births in the United States are performed early without a medical reason. These early births scheduled without a medical reason, also known as early elective deliveries, occur between 37 and 39 weeks of pregnancy. Elective deliveries may occur either by induction or Cesarean section (C-section), and are associated with an increased risk of maternal and neonatal morbidity and longer hospital stays for both mothers and newborns, as compared to deliveries occurring between 39 and 40 completed weeks gestation. For more than 30 years, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has promoted a clinical guideline discouraging elective deliveries prior to 39 weeks gestation without medical or obstetrical need. By following these strict clinical guidelines, and providing comprehensive education to families, Boone Hospital Center women’s and children’s services and Women’s Health Associates meet the highest standard of providing zero early elective deliveries in 2015.

An abdominal hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus through an opening in the abdomen. If the area involved in the surgery becomes infected, it is called a surgical site infection. Nationally, 2.7 percent of abdominal hysterectomies are complicated by a surgical site infection. The Surgical Care Improvement Project is a national effort to reduce complications following surgery, and outlines measures to take with every surgery to reduce the potential for infection. Boone Hospital Center surgery services and Women’s Health Associates carefully follow these very specific steps before, during and after surgery to prevent infection, resulting in zero abdominal hysterectomy surgical site infections in 2015