Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian became the first Orange County hospital to have a dedicated Emergency Department for expectant mothers when it debuted a four-room Obstetrics Emergency Department (OB-ED) in its Newport Beach location earlier this year.
This service contributes to a growing trend nationwide that helps increase access to specialists and improves patient outcomes.
The goal is to provide continuity of care and quick treatment for pregnant women over 16 weeks of gestation. The OB-ED has three full-time and two part-time laborists (OB-GYNs who work full time in a hospital, delivering babies only) and two nurses to ensure expert care is available around the clock for expectant mothers in need of immediate care.
“Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, we are able to provide enhanced coverage and a critical safety net to pregnant women in the community,” said Allyson Brooks, MD, executive medical director of the Hoag Women’s Health Institute.
Since its opening, over 200 patients per month have presented to Hoag’s OB-ED for complications of pregnancy such as diabetes, preeclampsia and bleeding and for evaluation and treatment of conditions such as nausea, vomiting, headache and urinary tract infections.
The OB-ED is located on the fifth floor of the Sue and Bill Gross Women’s Pavilion at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach.
