NICU Family Support®
Your gift helps provide comfort and support to families with a baby in the NICU.
Donation amount:
Join our efforts
Learn when you can make a difference to moms and babies.
Medical resources
- Incorporate preconception and genetics into your everyday practice.
- Use our patient education tools in preconception and prenatal care.
- Use our Prematurity Campaign resources to help improve birth outcomes.
Less than 39 weeks toolkit
In 2010, the Joint Commission established a new perinatal care core measure set that includes the number of elective deliveries (both vaginal and cesarean) performed at > 37 and < 39 weeks of gestation completed. In order to support hospitals in eliminating non-medically indicated deliveries before 39 weeks, March of Dimes, California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC), and the California Department of Health, Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Division collaborated on the development of a quality improvement toolkit. The new toolkit, entitled Elimination of Non-medically Indicated (Elective) Deliveries Before 39 Weeks Gestational Age; Quality Improvement Toolkit includes:
- Making the Case: A comprehensive literature review about the importance of eliminating elective deliveries before 39 weeks.
- Implementation: A step-by-step guide to assist hospital leaders with implementation efforts.
- Data Collection and Quality Improvement: A guide for measuring and tracking QI effectiveness over time.
- Clinician and Patient Education: Educational tools for clinicians and staff about consequences of early elective delivery; educational tools for patients about the importance of the last weeks of pregnancy.
- Appendices: Sample Forms, Hospital Case Studies, QI Implementation Tools, Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Methodology, Implementation Resources and References.
March of Dimes is pleased to make the toolkit available to all hospitals across the country. Interested clinicians, hospitals, insurers and regional collaboratives are invited to download this document to assist in the development of a comprehensive quality improvement program to address elective deliveries <39 weeks. If your hospital is interested in implementing the toolkit, please consider working with your March of Dimes chapter. To find your local chapter, visit our directory.
Elimination of Non-medically Indicated (Elective) Deliveries Before 39 Weeks Gestational Age; Quality Improvement Toolkit was reviewed by the California Department of Public Health Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division and is a resource, but it does not define the standard of care in California. Readers are advised to adapt the guidelines and toolkit based on their local facility’s level of care and patient populations and is not to rely solely on guidelines presented here.
Download a free copy of the toolkit at the Prematurity Prevention Resource Center. Registration is required.
