OBSTETRICS UNIT AT SOUTHEAST TO RECEIVE REDESIGN

The Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee has approved Southeast Missouri Hospital's certificate of need application to redesign its obstetrics unit.

The approval on Monday opens the way for the conversion of the hospital's Dennis B. Elrod, M.D. Obstetrics and Gynecology Center into an LDRP (labor, delivery, recovery, postpartum) birthing center. With this one-room maternity stay concept, a patient's labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum take place in one suite, said Southeast administrator James W. Wente.

The project will cost about $4 million, Wente said.

Work on the redesign project is expected to begin next fall and be completed within 18 months after the start of construction, he said.

The project will be financed internally, with a portion of the funds raised through the hospital family and community under direction of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation.

He attended Monday's hearing with Southeast board of trustees president Jerry Zimmer; Cape Girardeau obstetrician Dr. Scot G. Pringle, chairman of the hospital's obstetrics department; and Southeast nursing director and obstetrics supervisor MaDonna Sanders.

The Health Facilities Review Committee, made up of legislators and governor appointees, must approve projects of $1 million or more and that would have a significant impact on health care in a community.

Wente said the approval opens the way for the updating of Southeast's obstetrics unit, which has been a part of the hospital since 1928 and was last renovated in 1986. Last year, 1,603 infants were born at Southeast.

"By changing to an LDRP birthing center, the hospital will be able to offer families greater privacy during this very special time in their lives," Zimmer said.

Pringle said conversion to an LDRP patient care model is in response to patient needs and preference.

"The LDRP center is something patients wanted, and we're happy that we will soon be able to offer it to them," Pringle said. "It's something our patients need and deserve."

The redesigned unit will have 15 one-bed LDRP suites, each with a private bathroom, shower, telephone, television and comfortable, non-institutional furnishings.

Each suite will be equipped with all medical equipment that might be necessary but that equipment will be integrated into the decor of the room, Wente said.

The only time a woman would be moved would be in the case of a Caesarean section, when she would be taken to the obstetrics operating suite then returned to the LDRP room for recovery and postpartum.

There also will be four triage rooms, for monitoring pregnant women who aren't in labor or may be going into early labor, for a total of 19 licensed beds.

The unit will include a new nursery and two operating suites for Caesarean sections and other obstetrical surgeries. Also, the neonatal intensive care unit will be remodeled and enlarged.

In the present unit there are three areas. The nursery is in one area. In another area, labor and deliveries are done in three labor-and-delivery rooms, two labor rooms and the operating suites. Then there are 14 semiprivate postpartum rooms in yet another area.

Patients are often moved into two, three, sometimes four different rooms during their stay in the obstetrics unit.

Conversion of the present obstetrics department to a birthing center will greatly improve family access and participation in the birthing and bonding process, Sanders said.

"The functions of the department will become more efficient and responsive to the needs of the mother, baby and family," Sanders said. "The LDRP suite provides a private room so the family can remain together and not have to deal with disruptive moves."

The redesign also will limit access points to the unit providing added security for infants, she said.