NEWS | EINC-friendly Birth center to open at EAMC

This July, East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) is slated to complete its Birthing Center. To be headed by Dr. Elenita Veloso, the Birthing Center now has a spacious examination room, a spacious EINC area to accommodate mother-baby dyads with 30 reclining beds, and an OR for emergency CS cases.

After touring the premises, the EINC working group has expressed its satisfaction with
the Birthing Center’s steady development, forseeing further improvement in the OB Department’s already impressive statistics. Since EINC was implemented in April, performance of unnecessary practices have steadily gone down, and there has been very good compliance with performance of complete EINC, even in CS deliveries. From July 11-17, 2011, out of 123 normal deliveries, 58.5% had episiotomies and these were mostly young primigravid teenage mothers with tight perineums. 52.8% were not given IV fluids, and the remaining patients with IVs were OB complicated cases which comprise the majority of their admissions (65.7% of all admissions). The wall to wall stretchers in the DR don’t allow for patients’ mobility or having position of choice during labor, but 69.9% are able to deliver in the semi-upright position. More commendable is the 100% use of antenatal steroids, 100% EINC in CS deliveries, and performance of core steps 1-3 even in symptomatic patients. This ensures that all patients benefit from EINC even if they are eventually admitted to the NICU. 

With the new birthing center mothers can now deliver in non-supine position with these reclining beds

The Birthing Center, however, is not without room for improvement in its facilities. The EINC working group has suggested the addition of a sink in the IE room, the expansion of the labor room by way of converting the large area around the nurses’ station, the addition of handwashing stations in the delivery room, and the installation of exhaust fans. There remain many opportunities for the physical improvement of the space.