Length of the Hospital Stay for Mothers and Newborns

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Abstract
As a regional medical consultant half a day per week for a large insurance company, i advise physicians throughout the country to limit postpartum stays to 24 hours (assuming a normal vaginal delivery and no complications). I agree that new babies and mothers need to be monitored and new mothers require education, but I believe such monitoring and education can be done more thoroughly and economically at home. The cost of the additional 24 hours of hospitalization for mother and baby could pay for an average of eight home visits by a nurse. Although I offer such visits as an alternative to inpatient care, many of the physicians I speak with are unwilling to make these arrangements.