Jennifer Reist, an athletic trainer with Vanderbilt Sports Medicine, and her husband, Kendel, with their son, Jackson, who was born Tuesday at Vanderbilt. (photo by Anne Rayner)
Growing trend: Number of births at Vanderbilt rising
The number of babies born at Vanderbilt University Hospital has dramatically increased — from 2,500 deliveries in 2008 to an estimated 3,800 this year — at a time when the number of deliveries in both Nashville and the state of Tennessee has decreased.
“This has led not only to better teaching and training of Vanderbilt's resident physicians and neonatal fellows and to better enrollment in research projects, but also to the financial health of Vanderbilt and to excellent obstetrical care for Nashville,” said Frank Boehm, M.D., professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and vice-chair of the department.
2008 was a critical year, as new leaders were asked to head the department. Howard Jones III, M.D., professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and director of Gynecologic Oncology for 28 years, became interim chair in April 2008, and was named the permanent chair in early 2009. Boehm, who had directed the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine for 34 years and had already cut back to half time, was named vice-chair.
“We were asked to step up to the plate and right the ship, and I believe we've done that,” Boehm said. “Some people who have been at Vanderbilt this long are in the process of slowing down. We're actually speeding up and having a lot of fun, and an added benefit is a real friendship has evolved.”
Jones said that the number of faculty in the department has grown in the past three years. There were two Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists and five generalists when he and Boehm began their new roles.
This summer, there will be eight Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists and 11 general obstetrician/gynecologists. “We recruited like crazy and have really bulked up our faculty. We are letting people know we're back in business, so to speak,” Jones said.
Boehm said the large increase in deliveries would not have been possible without Vanderbilt's Nurse-Midwifery program. “Last year, our nurse-midwives delivered 983 patients of our total. That's a very large number.
Half of those patients came from the West End Women's Health Center and the other half from the Franklin Road Women's Health Center.”
“Nurse-midwives contribute to our student education and they back up our faculty at night. They've become an integral part of our teaching mission and our service to patients, and have been a tremendous help to us,” Boehm said.
Attending last fall’s grand opening for the eight-bed Maternal Special Care Unit on the fourth floor of the North Tower of Medical Center East were, from left, Bennett Spetalnick, M.D., Robin Mutz, R.N., M.P.P.M., Sandy Smith, R.N., Frank Boehm, M.D., Howard Jones III, M.D., Lavenia Carpenter, M.D., Nicole Herndon, M.S.N., R.N., and Nicole Powell, M.S.N., R.N. (photo by Steve Green)
Jones agrees. “We are so lucky to have them. Vanderbilt is the only hospital in town with a nurse-midwifery program. They have made a huge splash in the number of deliveries we've had here.”
Another important part of the department's success has been the opening of Vanderbilt's One Hundred Oaks campus and the relocation of the women's health clinics to the former mall. “Our clinic here was too small, “Boehm said. “ One Hundred Oaks allowed us to bring in more faculty.”
Boehm said the department maintains a balanced volume, with both high-risk and low-risk deliveries. About half are high-risk, Boehm said, and that helps train residents and fellows. Many of the mothers who deliver at Vanderbilt are cared for by the Vanderbilt Junior League Center for Advanced Maternal Fetal Care, a multidisciplinary group that advises women and their families who have been told that their fetus has a birth defect.
Many of these babies are cared for in Vanderbilt's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Judy Aschner, M.D., director of the Division of Neonatology, said the growth in the Vanderbilt Labor and Delivery is having a positive impact on outcomes of infants born prematurely or with serious health problems.
“It has long been recognized that preterm babies born at Vanderbilt have fewer serious complications and better short and long-term outcomes than those who are transported to our NICU after birth in another hospital,” she said.
“The increase in the number of inborn babies at Vanderbilt is good news for babies and their families, keeping mothers and their sick infants together and assuring the best possible outcome for Tennessee's most vulnerable citizens.”
The department will begin receiving national attention in May. VUMC was selected by New York-based television production company True Entertainment Media as the sole location to film a new reality TV series focusing on stories about mothers and their newborn babies.
The entire first season of the new series, which will consist of 26 half-hour episodes, was filmed at VUMC, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, the Women's Center at One Hundred Oaks, the West End Women's Health Center and the Franklin Road Women's Health Center.