Left: The Birthplace at University Health Truman Medical Center has recently been updated to give our mom’s more comfort and support for their laboring experience! Check out our new accommodations. (Click here) Right: Take a tour of University Health 2 and get a glimpse of our new Prenatal Ultrasound offices! (Click here)

University Health is a two-hospital, not-for-profit health system located in Kansas City, Mo. Our downtown location, University Health Truman Medical Center, is the largest provider of outpatient specialty care in Kansas City, operates the busiest adult emergency department in the city and has one of the top Level 1 trauma centers in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Our suburban hospital,  University Health Lakewood Medical Center, is located near Lee’s Summit and provides a range of specialty and outpatient services.

University Health Centers have received recognition and awards such as:

The American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Silver Performance Achievement Award for 2020. The award recognizes our commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that we have reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care.

Leader Status designation for the third year in a row from the Human Rights Campaign based on the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI). This designation recognizes healthcare organizations for policies and practices ensuring the equity and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) patients, visitors, and employees.

The KC Chamber Champion of Diversity Award recognizes a regional business that has made an impactful commitment to embracing diversity in their workplace, diversity supplier partnerships, and the community.

University Health makes Most Wired list for 10th straight year. Through the hard work of the KC one staff, UHTMC once again attained the highest standards in the technology industry.

University Health is proud to have earned three Joint Commission Gold Seals of Approval^® for its orthopaedic programs.

The in- and out-patient teaching at UHTMC is distributed throughout the week under the direct supervision of the MFM Faculty. The inpatient teaching consists of daily rounds of the hospitalized antepartum patients with the MFM faculty with frequent participation of the Neonatology and Anesthesia Departments. The MFM faculty directly supervises and educates the fellows in providing inpatient consultations, management of maternal fetal high risk admissions, clinical evaluations, interpretation of maternal and fetal tests, advanced ultrasound imaging, formulation of management plans, and fetal invasive procedures including fetal blood sampling, intrauterine transfusion and bladder shunt placement. The fellows and the MFM faculty attend weekly MFM case discussion sessions, joint monthly sessions with Neonatology, and monthly multidisciplinary integrated case management conferences at the quaternary Fetal Health Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

The outpatient teaching includes sessions in high risk clinics three mornings a week during which the fellows are taught how to provide ambulatory consultations on maternal fetal complications. In the prenatal diagnostic center, the fellows spend a minimum of 2 full days a week receiving education and training in fetal anatomical and targeted ultrasound examinations, fetal echocardiography, genetic counseling and genetic amniocentesis. The fellows also participate in the weekly multidisciplinary high risk planning conference that formulates management plans for all new high risk patients seen during the week. The MFM faculty is present in all the above activities.

Inpatient:

UHTMC operates a tertiary perinatal care center serving Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri and the surrounding area. The Birth Place at UHTMC has a 48-bed obstetrical unit with the following: 10 labor/delivery/recovery rooms (LDRs); 6 single-occupancy antepartum rooms (that can also be used as LDR rooms); 4 double-occupancy rooms (8 beds) for antepartum or postpartum patients depending on demand; and 12 double-occupancy postpartum rooms (24 total beds) for mothers with their babies. Antepartum and labor beds have fetal monitoring capability (including that related to monitoring multiples) with a central monitor located at the nurses’ station with on-line recording of traces. The unit has a 6-bed triage area, 2 delivery/surgical suites, and a 4-bed recovery area. An in-house anesthesia service operates 24/7.Inpatients have access to the 4 advanced ultrasound units located in the Prenatal Diagnostics Suite (located on the same floor as the BirthPlace). Additionally, there is a dedicated portable ultrasound device for inpatients of women’s and infants’ services; two other units are typically used for outpatients but are available for inpatient use as may be necessary.

Since UHTMC operates a high-risk perinatal center, it has a tertiary level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) licensed for 19 beds and located on the same floor as its obstetrical beds. A small nursery is also used for assessment of infants following birth and short-term observation. A transitional room is available for use by parents and newborns just prior to the infant’s discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit. The NICU of CMH has 60 beds that can be accessed via a bridge between TMC and CMH. Newborns may also be transferred by ambulance.

Supervision of the fellows: The MFM faculty members who are on call 24/7 supervise the fellows on all aspects of in-patient high risk obstetrical care. Along with the fellows, they conduct daily patient rounds, and supervise the fellows in providing consultations, determining appropriate management plans and performing invasive procedures.

Availability of consultative services: Being an academic medical center, comprehensive multidisciplinary consultation services are available 24/7 at UHTMC.

Availability of critical unit: Obstetrical patients requiring ventilatory assistance and critical care are generally admitted to the medical or surgical intensive care service. Moreover, each LDR and recovery area bed is equipped for pulse oximetry, non-invasive blood pressure and EKG monitoring. EKG monitors are capable of monitoring and displaying two invasive pressures (arterial line and central venous pressure or pulmonary arterial pressure).

Outpatient

UHTMC provides outpatient women’s care services in the Women’s Care Center which is located in our new building, University Health 2. UH2 houses the Women’s Care clinics on the 3^rd floor and Prenatal Ultrasound on the ground floor. Our clinics operate daily, providing a total of 9 morning and afternoon sessions per week. A high-risk clinic and a diabetic clinic for insulin-dependent pregnant patients are provided during several sessions each week. Social workers, case managers, an obstetrical educator and interpreters are also accommodated in space that affords obstetrical patients easy access to a range of special services. The MFM division provides ultrasonography, non-stress testing, biophysical profile, Doppler ultrasound (umbilical and middle cerebral arteries, ductus venosus), prenatal diagnosis/genetic counseling services in the completely renovated Prenatal Diagnostic Suite Advanced fetal imaging including comprehensive echocardiography, amniocentesis, and other antepartum procedures are performed by the MFM faculty.

a. Supervision: The fellows are supervised on site by the MFM faculty member providing coverage for the high risk obstetrical clinics. Under the guidance of the faculty, the fellows provide consultation and supervision of the residents. At the Prenatal Diagnostic Center, the MFM faculty provide onsite supervision of the fellows performing advanced ultrasound imaging and MFM consultation

b. Facility: The Women’s Care Center clinic has a total of total of 17 examination rooms in the new UH2 building on the 3^rd floor and the Perinatal Ultrasound clinic is just an elevator ride down to the ground floor. The Perinatal Ultrasound offices are fully equipped with 7 ultrasound exam rooms with state of the art GE Voluson E10, and Samsung Hera W10 ultrasound machines. Serving high-risk and normal pregnancies, the Perinatal Ultrasound clinic works full time under the direction of Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists and is accredited through the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd, trimester ultrasound, as well as Detailed Anatomical Screening. Other specialty services provided are fetal echocardiogram, nuchal translucency, amniocentesis, cordocentesis, and ultrasound guidance for fetal surgery. The outpatient clinic is furnished with a spacious waiting room, conference room, reading room, and consultation suite.

c. Sharing of the facility and equipment: The obstetrical clinic is dedicated to the general obstetrical and MFM practice. The equipment is not shared with any other department. The Prenatal Diagnostic Center facility and the ultrasound devices are exclusively used for the MFM service.