hey concluded that data support the claim that for low-risk women birth centers are safe and acceptable alternatives to in-hospital maternity care.
3.Birth Centers Have High Rates of Normal-Weighted Infants, and Low Rates of Preterm Births as well as Perinatal and Neonatal Deaths. In their study of birth center outcomes, Schimmel, Hogan, Boehler, DiFelice, Cooney and Schimmel (1992) stated that preterm birth rates very low (1.0%), that low newborn birthweights occurred for only 2.4 of the women in their sample, and perinatal and neonatal death rates were only two per 1,000.
4.Birth Centers Are Cost Effective. According to the findings of several studies (e.g., Sachs, Yeh, Acker, Driscoll, Brown & Jewett, 1988; Rooks, Ernst & Weatherby, 1992; Rooks, Weatherby, Ernst, Stapelton, Rosen & Rosenfield, 1989), birth centers provide quality care at rates that are much lower than hospitals.
Reasons Why Birth Centers Are Associated With Positive Outcomes
A good deal of research has been conducted to determine why birth centers are associated with such positive outcomes. This research has found several factors to be contributive to these outcomes. In this regard, Butler, Abrams, Parker, Roberts and Russell (1993) as well as Scupholme, DeJoseph, Strobino and Paine (1992), report that several of the positive outcomes associated with birth centers are due to its employment of certified nurse midwives.
Certified nurse-midwives have a very aggressive style of delivery and provide constant attention and care to their patients. These facts, Butler and associates (1993) report produce a greater willingness (when compared with physicians) to wait through a very difficult or long labor without resorting to a cesarean. This produces the low rates of cesarean births observed for birth centers.
Moreover, Butler et. al (1993) state that many birth centers evidenced a lower risk of abnormal labor and diagnosis of fetal distress. The a...