Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
I'm Ryan Mohammed, writer and moderator with Becker's
Healthcare. And I'm thrilled to have with me
today Heather Trout, director of women and children
services at North Bay Health.
Heather, welcome to the podcast. We're very excited
to have you join us today.
To get us started, I want to discuss
how North Bay Medical Center has earned the
high performing rating,
in US News and World Reports, best hospital
for, maternity maternity care for the 4th consecutive
year, which is absolutely amazing.
What does this recognition mean for your team
and the families you serve?
Thank you, Mariah. Yes. This was another huge
honor.
Like you mentioned, it was the 4th year
of receiving this,
and it and it truly just validates
that the quality is the core of everything
that we do here at North Bay Health,
not only just in maternity care services, but
every department within our organization
and also validates,
our patient centered care model. So, you know,
putting the patient in the center
of everything we do. So it was,
a great honor to receive that again.
Yeah. Definitely. I can obviously see how quality,
comes first with the patients,
having won this for the 4th year in
a row. Can you walk us through the
key factors
US News
uses to evaluate the distinction,
and how North Bay consistently meets these,
these levels of criteria?
Absolutely, Mariah. So US News,
and World Report, they evaluate
the hospitals in a variety of,
different areas. And there's 8 8 specific items
that they look at.
One being,
our c section rates,
newborn complication
rates because those kinda go hand in hand
with your if you have a really low
c section rate,
you need to look at what are your
newborn complication rates. So those go side by
side. They also look at our breast milk
feeding rates,
early elective
delivery rates. So are we inducing patients,
without medical reasons before 39 weeks?
Routine vaginal births after c sections also referred
to as VBACS or TOLACS.
So this refers to,
if patients have had a a c section
before
and then would like to do a trial
of labor to have a vaginal birth, what
is our rate on that? Do we even
offer that? Because a lot of hospitals,
do not even offer that.
They also look at our episiotomy
rates,
in adherence to our birthing friendly criteria.
And, also, the, most important, I believe, is
tracking and reporting of outcomes
across different racial and ethnic groups, making sure
that
equity
is,
is delivered in in all different races and
nationalities.
So those are the 8 different items that
they evaluate.
You you asked about how how are we
doing compared to other hospitals. Well, pretty fantastic.
If,
I I can say,
since this is our 4th, recognition,
our c section rates are 22%
lower
than, hospitals that do not meet this criteria.
Our newborn complication rate is 44%
lower than other hospitals.
Breastfeeding rate is 12%
higher
than comparable hospitals.
Our vaginal,
routine vaginal birth after c section,
like I mentioned, we have been offering this
service,
for a very long time, and many patients
are seeking out hospitals that do offer this.
So this is a huge
drive for patients to come to our facility.
Episiotomy
rates are 33%
lower than, comparative
hospitals. We are baby friendly.
One of not everybody is baby friendly. We're
the only ones in Solano County.
And then we're 13%
more likely to report our outcomes on
different racial and ethnic groups, looking at all
those different categories
and dividing it up into the different racial
groups. So
yes.
Wow. Yeah. That is a lot of criteria
for good reason, of course.
And and like you said, I think that
makes it even more impressive with getting this
high rating for sure.
Going, into the family's decision for just a
sec, why do you think it's important for
families to look for a hospital with a,
US News high,
performing rating
when planning for childbirth?
Yeah. Thank you, Mara. You know, our families
are,
very,
proactive
and really redoing their research and homework. And
this distinction in maternity care for uncomplicated
pregnancies
really helps,
our expectant families make those informed decisions
about where to seek care, and it reflects
on our commitment,
like we've mentioned to provide a safe,
compassionate, and quality experience throughout the birth process.
I often get phone calls
during to
arrange a tour or to ask questions
and really, you know, asking those informed decisions
about, you know, what are our rates and
all that kind of stuff. And it's it's
available
on the Internet for everybody. So to be
able to,
speak so highly of those, it's it's really
important that our patients are able to make
that informed decision.
Yeah. Absolutely.
For clarification,
what does the baby friendly designation signify,
and what does it say about the care
you provide to mothers and the babies?
Absolutely. So North Bay Health, we were originally
designated
in 2014,
by the
baby friendly USA
for our, baby friendly status.
They evaluate
81 different items when they come out for
an evaluation.
And
this this honor,
affirms that North Face Health adherence to the
highest standards of care for breastfeeding moms and
their babies, and it's based on the 10
steps to successful breastfeeding,
which is an evidence based practice recommended by
the World Health Organization
and the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF.
So it's many different criterias. It's not just
about
breastfeeding,
but really just
giving our patients the the best care,
helping them with whatever feeding method they want,
but just meeting the rigorous criteria.
So redesignation
is every 5 years. So we were redesignated
in 2019,
and we just completed our redesignation,
in September
of 2024.
So
very excited and very proud to continue this,
quality practice.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I'm sure. And, you know,
81 points is outstanding.
As the only baby friendly hospital in, Solano
County, I hope I'm pronouncing that right.
What unique advantages does North Bay offer to
breastfeeding mothers and their newborns?
Yes. Thank you, Mariah. So,
you know, it means many things. Like I
mentioned,
providing mothers and babies in our community with
access to exceptional breastfeeding support while they're in
the hospital. And when they go exceptional
breastfeeding support while they're in the
hospital and when they go home.
And like I mentioned earlier, it's not just
all about,
breastfeeding.
Having your child at North Bay means that
you can stay with your healthy baby 24
hours a day. We encourage skin to skin
contact immediately after birth. Whether you've had a
vaginal delivery or a delivery a c section,
we provide that same level of care with
that baby
immediately going skin to skin to help create
that bonding. We also have 5 certified lactation
consultants
available to provide personalized 1 on 1 sessions.
We have outpatient support groups and consultations
available
once mothers and their babies leave. So carrying
on that, you know, it's one thing to
get started in the hospital and really establish,
but when you go home, that's a that's
a different story and having that available support.
And our lactation consultants
receive phone calls
daily
from patients
and other organizations
because there's there's like I said, they they
don't have all the same support that North
Bay does. So it's it's a very well,
deserved and needed,
service.
Yeah. It definitely,
definitely sounds like it, and I'm glad to
hear all the care that is shown to
the mother,
and, obviously, the child, of course.
Going back to quality, which, we touched on
a bit earlier, how does North Bay's commitment
to high standards and maternity care reflect in
its broader mission of providing accessible,
high quality,
and compassionate care to patients throughout the North
Bay region?
Yeah. You're absolutely right, Mariah. So North Bay
Health's vision is to be the trusted health
care partner of choice for the communities we
serve.
So
showing and having these recognitions,
there like I said mentioned earlier, it's just
complete
validation
that,
we are addressing the critical
maternity care needs,
identifying,
you know, where where we need the quality,
which is in everything we do. I also
wanted to mention that we are the only
level 3 NICU
in Solano County as well. So if you
have a baby that, you know, maybe preterm
or just may need some help in the
NICU
and your facility that you're delivering at doesn't
offer that, mom and baby could be separated.
And that's not anything that any,
parents anticipate. So those are very, crucial things
to think about as well, when making a
decision.
Even though you don't don't anticipate that, we
want a healthy baby and a healthy mom,
sometimes we need that extra service. So that,
again, provides so our patients don't have to
travel to Sacramento or San Francisco.
They can be right here in Solano County
getting the highest level of care for themselves
and their baby.
In fact, our we have a woman's hope,
philanthropy group
that just,
donated
fetal
monitors
to our new clinics, our clinics that we're
opening up in Vacaville
so that we can really just keep those
patients as close to home as possible.
So really living out that, mission and vision
of North Bay Health.
Yeah. Thank you so much for giving us
that insight.
Heather, before I let you go, last thing
I wanted to touch on with you.
Across the industry, many hospitals are closing
or cutting back on their maternity services, which
is obviously heartbreaking,
for me, and I'm sure many other women
to see.
How is North Bay continuing to invest
in maternity care and provide services and support
to the babies and their families?
Absolutely.
So all of these recognitions that we've received,
over the past years
is because we are supported by the leadership
here at North Bay Health.
They recognize
that it is crucial that our services
are here. We have,
5 partnerships with 5 clinics,
that are that do their that we support,
and then they also have we do their
deliveries here at North Bay. So really creating
that,
accessibility
for our patients. Many of our patients
come by bus,
walk here.
We are in a central location so that
we can really serve,
our patients. There is no question that we
are only going to expand and get bigger.
Never one thought or discussion about
do we need these services because it's
absolutely
very clear to, senior leadership,
to our CEO Mark Bail, that
we need to do this. This is important,
and we're here to stay as well as
our NICU.
I'm very proud of that.
Yeah. Definitely. As you should be. Thank you
so much for those final thoughts, Heather. This
has definitely been
a very, very informative discussion. So, again, I
wanna thank you so much for coming on
Backus Health Care,
and I look forward to connecting with you
again soon.
That's awesome. Thank you so much. Have a
great day. You too.