Part II: Consumer Satisfaction During One Year

Abstract

The birthing room concept (BRC) at Phoenix Memorial includes personal involvement in birth plans; labor and delivery in the same bed; no separation of infant and family; discharge within 12 to 24 hours after the birth; unlimited sibling, family, and friend visitation; and the option of having family, friends, and children, in addition to the coach, attend the birth. In Part I, BRC development via medical and nursing channels, the physical remodeling, descriptive data on consumers, and morbidity and transfer statistics are detailed. In Part II, results of a consumer questionnaire are presented: why consumers chose the birthing room, overall consumer satisfaction, home births averted, impact of children's presence at birth, value of the Visiting Nurse Service, and changes consumers would make to enhance future births. Data for the two papers were collected during separate but overlapping time periods. No correlations were made as the data were initially collected for separate purposes. (See, also, separate abstract for each article.) To evaluate the birthing room concept and its implementation at Phoenix Memorial Hospital, questionnaires were mailed to all consumers using it during a one-year period. There was an 89.3% return rate of the 122 deliverable questionnaires. The purposes of averting the rise in home births and providing enhanced consumer satisfaction were being met. A total of 33% of home births were apparently averted; however, 19.3% indicated they would still consider home birth in the future. Overall response to the birthing room concept was rated as positive by 98.2%.