The Labor and Delivery Unit at Mercy consists of state-of-the-art facilities geared to the provision of care for obstetrical triage patients and inpatients during the antepartum, intrapartum, and operative delivery stages of pregnancy. Patient-centered care focuses on one nurse assuming the care of the family with special emphasis on the mother and newborn.

The collaborative Labor and Delivery Team includes nurses, physicians, certified nurse midwives, nursing service technicians, a clinical nurse specialist, social workers, pastoral care, and other support staff. The collaborative team approach assures consistent communication and results in optimal outcomes for each patient.

Mercy offers a comprehensive grief counseling program, Mercy Cares, for families who have suffered the loss of a baby due to miscarriage or fetal death. Services are provided for the family during hospitalization and long after discharge.

Nursing staff education includes an individualized competency-based approach to orientation. Depending on the experience of the staff member, orientation meets the adult learner’s needs and is tailored to support the new employee’s prior experiences.  Newly graduated RNs are entered into a 16-week program during which they are provided with 70 hours of didactic education through the Maryland Perinatal Education Consortium. Clinical experiences include low-risk vaginal deliveries, scheduled cesarean deliveries, antepartum nursing care, high risk obstetric care, and normal newborn assessment. New staff members with prior experience have the length and content of orientation customized to their individualized needs. New employees meet on a weekly basis with their preceptors and the clinical nurse specialist to identify strengths and areas of needed improvement to assure optimum outcome and the development of a nurse who is a good fit with our theory of patient-centered care.