Mount Sinai West earned a High Performing rating, the highest rating available, from U.S. News & World Report in the publication’s inaugural assessment of hospitals that provide obstetrical care. Mount Sinai West, along with Mount Sinai Morningside, which are ranked together, are among 237 of 2,700 hospitals in the United States to receive this rating.
To achieve the High Performing rating for maternity care, hospitals had to excel on multiple metrics that are important to families, including complication rates, C-section rates, whether births were scheduled too early in pregnancy, and breast feeding support for new parents.
Mount Sinai West has a culture that prioritizes low-intervention births and shared decision-making between providers and their pregnant patients and has a longstanding tradition of using midwives. Examples of how the hospital puts this into practice include offering nitrous oxide as an alternative pain-control measure to an epidural and wireless monitoring that enables patients to walk around during labor rather than having to stay in bed.
The labor and delivery unit’s providers are also trained in TeamSTEPPS, a teamwork model developed by the U.S. Department of Defense and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to optimize patient outcomes by improving communication among providers.
“We are proud to be included in the inaugural edition of Best Hospitals for Maternity Care,” says Holly Loudon, MD, MPH, Site Chair, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, Mount Sinai West. “To be recognized on a national level is a tribute to our outstanding team of obstetrical faculty, nursing staff, and support staff and their dedication to quality, safety, and patient experience.”