A Comparison - You Decide
When I was on staff at my local hospital in 2009 I posted this data. Needless to say, I got yelled at and was ordered to remove it because it somehow violated confidentiality. No explanation given. Actually, I believe it was too revealing of the differences in practice styles and therefore embarassing to some. Well, I am no longer under threat of administrative retribution and therefore, once again, I feel this data deserves to be discussed. What it does show is that in a population of low risk mothers in 2008, comparing apples to apples, the midwifery collaborative model practiced by The Woman's Place for Health, Inc. had a primary c/section rate of less than 5% while another local large group of doctors adhering to the obstetrical model of medicalizing birth had a primary rate near 17%.
In this group of over 300 women an almost 4-fold risk of having a first time c/section in a comparable group of low risk pregnant women exists when birth is "treated" as a medical problem. In order to respectfully and honestly share the information of my collaborative practice and quell the naysayers I am in the process of compiling data from more than 10 years. I hope to publish "The Experience of an OB-Midwife Collaborative Practice" using statistical analysis and an evidenced based approach this year.
What those of us with common sense and the powers of observation have known for a long time about low risk birthing will benefit from as much objective data as we can get. Patients deserve as much truthful information as they can get to make an informed choice. I look forward to sharing my findings with you and with them. Dr. F
Small Community Hospital Deliveries from 12/1/07 to 11/30/08
Practice Total / # / Rate
Doctor A 75 / 10 / 13.33%
Doctor B 37 / 4 / 10.80%
Doctor C 51 / 12 / 23.50%
Doctor D 20 / 5 / 25.00%
Doctor E 14 / 3 / 21.40%
TWP 124 / 6 / 4.84%(Dr.F & midwives)
Other Large Group Total:
MDs A-D 183 / 33 / 16.9%
Deliveries and c/sections performed at a hospital that cares for almost exclusively low risk patients.
In this group of over 300 women an almost 4-fold risk of having a first time c/section in a comparable group of low risk pregnant women exists when birth is "treated" as a medical problem. In order to respectfully and honestly share the information of my collaborative practice and quell the naysayers I am in the process of compiling data from more than 10 years. I hope to publish "The Experience of an OB-Midwife Collaborative Practice" using statistical analysis and an evidenced based approach this year.
What those of us with common sense and the powers of observation have known for a long time about low risk birthing will benefit from as much objective data as we can get. Patients deserve as much truthful information as they can get to make an informed choice. I look forward to sharing my findings with you and with them. Dr. F
Small Community Hospital Deliveries from 12/1/07 to 11/30/08
Practice Total / # / Rate
Doctor A 75 / 10 / 13.33%
Doctor B 37 / 4 / 10.80%
Doctor C 51 / 12 / 23.50%
Doctor D 20 / 5 / 25.00%
Doctor E 14 / 3 / 21.40%
TWP 124 / 6 / 4.84%(Dr.F & midwives)
Other Large Group Total:
MDs A-D 183 / 33 / 16.9%
Deliveries and c/sections performed at a hospital that cares for almost exclusively low risk patients.