Current through November 28, 2024
(a) A general acute care hospital must offer
perinatal services that include either
(1) an
intensive care newborn nursery and other hospital facilities capable of
treating the mother if problems arise that are beyond the normal capability of
the perinatal service unit; or
(2)
arrangements for consultation with a perinatal service unit at another hospital
that has the capabilities described in (a)(1) of this section and the transfer
of an infant or mother to that unit when necessary; the arrangements must
include, at a minimum, the ability to immediately contact the other hospital by
telephone or radio, and the ability to immediately obtain transportation for
the mother or infant by the fastest method available.
(b) A hospital must provide individualized
care for each infant patient.
(c)
Every infant, whether a new patient or one transferred from another location,
must be evaluated for evidence of infection before admission to a
hospital.
(d) An infant who
develops symptoms of an infection must be isolated from other infants
immediately.
(e) Newborn infants
must be marked for identification in the delivery room. The method of
identification must positively identify an infant with the name of its mother,
except when the infant is being placed for adoption.
(f) A hospital must have the capability for
operative delivery at all times.
(g) Smoking must be prohibited in delivery
rooms and nurseries.
(h) A general
acute care hospital may obtain a waiver under
7
AAC 12.900(h) for its perinatal
service only if
(1) the hospital has 25 or
fewer acute care beds and 200 or fewer obstetrical deliveries per
year;
(2) the hospital establishes
a policy governing the use of a combined obstetrical delivery and surgical
suite which ensures that a patient who presents an obstetrical emergency which
requires immediate medical intervention to preserve the health and life of a
mother or her infant is given first priority, and an obstetrical patient for
whom delivery is imminent is given second priority, over other obstetrical and
nonemergency surgical patients;
(3)
the hospital's infection control committee established under
7
AAC 12.760 defines policies and procedures designed to
prevent the transmission of infection through the use of combined surgical and
obstetrical delivery suite facilities, and maintains a system for discovery,
reporting, and investigation of all infections occurring in surgical patients,
postpartum patients and neonates;
(4) a record of reports and investigations of
all infections described in (3) of this subsection is kept on file for two
years;
(5) the hospital excludes
from the combined obstetrical delivery surgical room
(i) surgery on persons who have a known or
suspected acute or chronic infection;
(ii) surgery on persons who are known
carriers of a communicable disease before the maximum incubation period of the
disease has expired;
(iii) change
or removal of a cast;
(iv) mouth,
nose, or throat surgery; and
(v)
intestinal, rectal, anal, or perianal surgery other than an incidental or
emergency appendectomy; and
(6) the hospital establishes policies and
procedures and maintains appropriate equipment and supplies for rapid
conversion of a labor room to an emergency delivery room if an obstetrical
delivery becomes imminent at a time when all obstetrical delivery rooms or
operating rooms are in use.
(i) A rural primary care hospital or a
critical access hospital must meet the standards in this section if the
governing body elects to offer perinatal service.
Authority:AS
18.20.010
AS
18.20.060
