A Collective Approach to Care
Commonwealth Health Moses Taylor Hospital’s Maternity Care Unit brings team approach to childbirth
If you were to ask Dr. Frank Kolucki, Jr., of Commonwealth Health
Moses Taylor Hospital’s Maternity Care Unit what the most
gratifying part of his career was, he would immediately cite one
thing.
“Patient safety supersedes all - we focus on keeping the mothers
and babies that we are privileged to serve healthy,” he said. “We
also focus on making sure it will be one of the happiest moments
of the family’s life.
According to Dr. Kolucki, Commonwealth Health Moses Taylor
Hospital has embraced a “culture of safety” on site, where the
belief that patient safety supersedes all prevails. This allows for
quick and strong team development, where each team member
will use his or her strengths, talents, and expertise to best take
care of the patient, which will, in turn, keep that patient safe.
Recently, the Maternity Unit was named
a Healthgrades Center of Excellence
in Labor and Delivery, meaning that it
is in the top 10 percent of all labor and
delivery units nationwide. The strength
of the Maternity Care Unit as a whole
has even garnered the attention of the
Joint Commission as, in 2015, the unit
was named the fi rst Perinatal Center of
Excellence in the nation.
“This designation showed the benefi t of
having a team approach to taking care
of individuals,” Dr. Kolucki said. “We use
our collective intellect as a team to make
sure we have the best outcome for our
patients.”
Dr. Kolucki also cited the Maternity Care
Unit’s evidence-based protocols, which
determine the unit’s proper caretaking
procedures, as another key factor in the
Joint Commission designation.
“These protocols help us make sure
women are getting the absolute best
care they can,” he said. “The Joint
Commission actually asked for our
protocols and algorithms for their library
so that other maternity units across the
country would have access to them, so
what we do here is truly a best practice.”
While the unit’s team building for
staff includes working with simulators
and consistently remaining up-to-
date with latest innovations, the unit
also sees itself as working as a team
with the family about to welcome its
new addition. This includes providing
perinatal education, as well as parent,
sibling, and refresher classes, and family
birthing suites so that families are a full-
fl edged part of their medical team.
“We have two obstetric physicians in
house at all times because, while every
birth is a miracle, not every birth goes
smoothly,“ Dr. Kolucki said. “When an
emergency arises, we are always here
to take care of it in an effective fashion.
Patient safety is our number one priority
- you have to make sure your team has
all the tools to win the day.”
For more information, visit https://www.
commonwealthhealth.net/maternity-
care-services.
Now in its 19th year, the Moses
Taylor Hospital’s Maternity Unit
has delivered nearly 45,000
babies, all thanks to the unit’s
successful team approach.
This team includes:
• A wide variety of providers
• The neonatal intensive care unit
• Specialty services
• Perinatal services
• Social workers
• Offsite testing
• Anesthesiologists
• Lactation consultants
• Free perinatal (childbirth)
education classes
• And additional staff, all working
in tandem to ensure the best
possible outcome for patients.
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