Women & Infants' Profile 2006

About Women & Infants

Distinguished in its history, mission and breadth of service, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island is:

• The premier health resource in the region for newborn children and women of all ages. In 2003, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services named Brown University and Women & Infants a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health.
• The tenth largest obstetrical service in the country with more than 9,700 deliveries last year.
• The regional perinatal center for southeastern New England.
• The site of an active general and gynecological surgical program with more than 8,800 procedures performed last year.
• The site of continuous and comprehensive primary and specialized care services for women through the Women’s Primary Care Center which, in combination with the Division of Ambulatory Care’s urgent care services, sees approximately 66,300 patients annually.
• In the coming years, Women & Infants’ building addition will continue to ensure the hospital’s ongoing viability and success as we improve our facilities for obstetric and neonatal patients.
• Allied with outstanding private practice obstetrician-gynecologists, pediatricians and other physicians with practices throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.
• Women & Infants has been named one of the top 50 hospitals in gynecology in the America’s Best Hospitals edition of U.S. News & World Report, and has also been named the Greatest Place to Work as part of the Providence Business News’ Business Excellence program.

Women & Infants Hospital is accomplished in teaching and research

• The primary teaching affiliate in obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics for Brown Medical School.
• Also affiliated with Salve Regina University, University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College Department of Nursing and Graduate School of Social Work, Community College of Rhode Island, University of Connecticut, Boston College, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts, and others.

Women & Infants is for mothers and newborns

• Nearly 72% of all newborns in Rhode Island are delivered at Women & Infants.
• Women can choose to give birth either in one of 19 private labor/delivery/recovery rooms or in the hospital’s Alternative Birthing Center (ABC), one of only three such centers in New England.
• An Obstetric Triage Unit provides immediate, expert evaluation of the laboring patient and houses the hospital’s Fetal Evaluation Unit.

Women & Infants is for special care

• Through its Divisions of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Obstetric and Consultative Medicine, Women & Infants offers clinical and educational services for women with medical complications of pregnancy.
• The hospital’s High Risk Obstetrical Unit, the only one in the region, provides specialized treatment for women whose pregnancy-related complications need close monitoring or inpatient hospital care.
• Women & Infants’ 60-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is the largest in southeastern New England with approximately 1,188 high-risk infants admitted each year. About 11% of these infants are transferred from area hospitals.
• Project Link is dedicated to assessment, treatment and counseling for pregnant women and newborns affected by substance abuse.
• The Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, formerly the Infant Development Center (IDC), provides clinical services, research and training in the psychological and social aspects of pediatrics. This includes the behavioral and emotional needs of infants and children up to six years of age. Services include a Colic Clinic, psychosocial and occupational therapy in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit/Special Care Nursery, a Behavior and Development Clinic for toddlers through preschool age children, and the Vulnerable Infants Program (VIP) of RI, which helps with the placement of drug-exposed infants.

Women & Infants is for couples challenged by infertility

• The hospital’s Division of Reproductive Medicine & Infertility offers a successful reproductive technology program. Hundreds of infertile couples each year benefit from Women & Infants’ diagnosis and treatment of infertility through IVF (in vitro fertilization), ovulation induction, reproductive surgery, donor sperm program, frozen embryo transfer, ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection), and PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis).
• Women & Infants’ egg donation program provides an additional option for women trying to become pregnant who lack ovaries, have diminished ovarian function, or have a genetic disease or a family history of genetic disease.
• Our reproductive endocrinologists not only see patients at our Women & Infants’ campus, but also at the New England Medical Center in Boston.
• Our program has achieved some of the best outcomes in the nation for reducing the incidence of high order multiples occurring as a result of infertility treatment.

Women & Infants is for women struggling with cancer

• The Program in Women’s Oncology at Women & Infants Hospital is the state’s largest focused cancer program dedicated to women. Led by Dr. Cornelius “Skip” Granai, the program includes a prospective, multidisciplinary tumor board process and is the hub of a telemedicine program which enables Women & Infants to share its expertise in gynecologic oncology with colleagues throughout the world.
• The Program in Women’s Oncology offers a comprehensive Cancer Risk Assessment and Prevention program which addresses concerns individuals or families may have regarding their risk of developing cancer. The program is accredited by the American College of Surgeons.
• Women & Infants’ Program in Women’s Oncology is a full member in the National Cancer Institute’s Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG), the world’s premier collaborative, clinical trial organization studying cancers in women. The program is also a Teaching Hospital Cancer Program as approved by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.
• Last year, Women & Infants began offering intraperitoneal (IP) therapy, a more intense chemotherapy treatment for women with advanced ovarian cancer. The National Cancer Institute took the unusual step of formally encouraging doctors to use this treatment.
• The Breast Health Center is a specialized center offering education, support, diagnosis and contemporary treatment for all breast health problems.

Women & Infants is for women at every stage of life

• In 2005, Women & Infants opened the Center for Sexuality, Intimacy and Fertility. The first of its kind in the region, the Center is a collaboration between the Women’s Primary Care Center, the Program in Women’s Oncology and the Division of Reproductive Medicine and Infertility. It serves as a resource for women who have undergone treatment for cancer and are experiencing its detrimental effect on their sex lives or women who may want to bear children after treatment.
• Women & Infants is the first hospital in Rhode Island to offer imaging-directed cytology, a breakthrough process that achieves a higher level of certainty in cervical cancer screening.
• The Center for Women’s Surgery is recognized for its success in treating the full range of women’s urogynecologic problems, most notably urinary incontinence, with surgical, medical and/or pharmacological interventions.
• Women & Infants’ Department of Medicine provides a broad spectrum of women’s health services, including echocardiology, pulmonary function testing and an asthma clinic. The Division of Obstetric & Consultative Medicine provides consultation for medical complications of pregnancy and preoperative consultation, as well as internal medicine.
• The Center for Women's Gastrointestinal Disorders provides gastroenterology consultation to women, including management of hyperemesis in pregnancy and colorectal cancer screening. Endoscopy services for women are also offered.
• Women’s Behavioral Health offers inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care in such areas as stress management, PMS, and panic disorders. Treatment for postpartum depression and anxiety in pregnancy is offered through our Day Program.
• Women & Infants offers a full array of cosmetic surgery services for the women of the region. Our affiliated physicians are experienced, board-certified plastic surgeons. The Centers for Health Education, the first comprehensive resources of their kind in the area, offer free lending libraries, computerized databases and a broad spectrum of educational programs and support groups for women and their families. Located in Providence, East Greenwich, Woonsocket, South Kingstown, Swansea, and North Attleboro, the centers adjoin Medical Office Buildings where Women & Infants’ physicians bring their high-caliber services to patients of the region.

Women & Infants sponsors groundbreaking research

• Women & Infants continues to break new ground with its five-year, nearly $9-million Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The “COBRE for Perinatal Biology” is probing such issues as the mechanical answers to lung problems in premature babies and more effective treatment for the potentially deadly Candida infection in premature babies.
• In 2006, Women & Infants received a $2-million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund protected research in reproductive health. The Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) grant will fund the creation of a career development center at the hospital, one of only 20 such centers nationwide. Its first researcher is examining medical treatments for heavy uterine bleeding.
• Physicians in Women & Infants’ Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine are engaged in a variety of projects investigating the effect of a woman’s cervical length, the mechanics of cervical change during pregnancy and labor, and the use of hormone and diet supplements in women at risk for delivering prematurely.
• Women & Infants’ researchers are making major contributions to the exploration of the effects of substance abuse in pregnancy.
• The hospital collaborated on the discovery of a risk indicator for Down syndrome, the AFP+ test, and the enhanced AFP+ Quad test, and the Women & Infants’ Prenatal Diagnosis Center and Division of Prenatal and Special Testing also now offer two new nuchal translucency (NT) based screening tests. The First Trimester Test and the Integrated Test combine the first and second trimester screenings into a single screening result. This enhancement follows Women & Infants’ participation with 10 other clinical centers across the U.S., which enrolled pregnant women into a three-year study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Child Health and Development.
• The hospital participates in a number of national studies, including the benefits of breast milk for extremely low birthweight babies; the effects of early home intervention on pediatric hearing; and the effects of a new drug, in combination with chemotherapy, for women who have either not responded to other medication for certain gynecologic cancers or whose cancer has gone into remission and then returned.
• The hospital’s George Anderson Outcomes Measurement Unit and the Division of Research within the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology emphasizes outcomes-based research. This provides needed infrastructure and enhances opportunities for research success.
• The Kilguss Research Institute is home to Women & Infants and Brown University researchers and their staff. Their projects include developmental biology, cancer biology, and vaccine development for tuberculosis and HIV.

Women & Infants believes in the community

• Community programs include childbirth, parenting, reproductive health, human sexuality, breast health and women’s health education.
• Outreach education benefits more than 32,200 people in the region annually in schools, community centers and similar sites on a full spectrum of issues in women’s health and human sexuality.
• The hospital provided close to $13.9 million last year in uncompensated care to women and families in need.
• Women & Infants’ Family Van, a rolling health clinic that provides much-needed services for the underserved and underinsured in our state, now offers a translation communicator that enables staff to communicate and converse in 22 different languages.

The community believes in Women & Infants

• 477 in-hospital volunteers provide 32,050 hours of service annually.
• More than 306 community-based volunteers from Operation Warm Head Start, a committed group of knitters working from their homes to supply baby hats for every baby born at Women & Infants.
• Women & Infants’ 241-member Auxiliary conducts fundraising and community awareness programs, supports the hospital’s fundraising efforts, and sponsors the Gift Shop, the hospital service representative program, and Nursing Moms, Etc., which serves the needs of breastfeeding mothers and newborns.
• Thousands of donors enthusiastically support Women & Infants each year through gifts to the hospital’s annual fund and endowment, as well as through events like Women & Infants’ phonathons, celebrity luncheons and the Storybook Ball. Gifts are used to enhance patient care, support education and training, fund capital and equipment needs, and ensure Women & Infants’ financial security through the general endowment fund. In 2005, Women & Infants received a gift of four patents of inventions appraised at more than $3 million.

Facts

• Women & Infants houses:
  137 Adult beds
  60 Neonatal Intensive Care beds
  60 Newborn bassinets
  10 Operating rooms
• In Fiscal Year ‘05, Women & Infants saw:
  23,286 Inpatients
  33,798 Outpatients
  32,539 Emergency room visits
  89,623 Total patients
• 9,718 babies were delivered in Fiscal Year ’05 including 181 who were delivered in the hospital’s Alternative Birthing Center.
• Women & Infants employs more than 2,800 full-time, part-time and per diem employees.
• Salaries and benefits represented 64% of the total operating expenses in Fiscal Year ’05.
• The hospital’s total operating expense budget in Fiscal Year ’05 was $277,886,616 with an operating gain of $4,081,020.
• The average obstetrical stay was 3.2 days.
• Women & Infants is accredited by: Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, College of American Pathologists (Laboratories).
• Joined with Kent Hospital, Butler Hospital, Care New England Home Health, and Care New England Wellness Centers, Women & Infants is a member hospital in the Care New England Health System.