Optimal Cord Clamping Accolade

Oh Baby! LeConte Medical Center Earns Accolade for Moms and Babies

Each woman and her labor and delivery experience is different, as is each newborn welcomed into the world. The Dolly Parton Birthing Unit at LeConte Medical Center offers expectant parents the very best in comprehensive, customized labor and delivery services so each baby’s life gets off to the best possible start.

In addition to adhering to evidence-based standards and practices, the labor and delivery staff take excellent care of each mom and baby that come through their doors.

Thanks to the philanthropic and generous spirit of Dolly Parton herself, LeConte Medical Center provides a state-of-the-art labor and delivery experience for every patient. Dolly’s legacy of compassion and generosity continues to impact the families who entrust the center with the precious moments of childbirth.

Karen Ott, BSN, RNC, is the nurse manager of the obstetrics unit at LeConte Medical Center. She has been a labor and delivery nurse for three decades and leads her team by setting an example of excellence and compassion for all her patients and staff.

“We treat each of our laboring moms as special and unique,” said Ott. “Our patients are precious to us, because they’re not just our patients, they are our neighbors, our friends and our family.”

National and State Recognitions

LeConte’s Dolly Parton Birthing Unit has been named a “BEST for Babies” hospital by the Tennessee Department of Health and the Tennessee Hospital Association, and was listed as a “Best Maternity Hospital” by Newsweek in 2020. LeConte’s labor and delivery staff continue to earn well-deserved accolades for their high quality of medical care delivered to laboring patients.

LeConte Medical Center is certified as a Safe Sleep Hospital. The certification is a testament to the staff’s dedication to providing education and vital tools about safe sleep to the parents of newborns delivered in the birthing unit.

TIPQC Recognition for Optimal Cord Clamping (OCC)

The birthing unit recently received an award for optimal cord clamping from the Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care. Cord clamping is where the umbilical cord is clamped and cut to separate the baby from the placenta.

“Optimal cord clamping involves delaying cord clamping for 60 seconds to allow the neonate to receive at least 60 seconds of placentally transfused blood before the umbilical cord is clamped,” Ott explained.

Benefits of Cord Clamping

Delaying cord clamping reduces morbidity and mortality in the baby, improves neurodevelopment outcomes, reduces the incidence of late-onset sepsis, reduces the need for blood transfusions, and reduces the need for hypotension treatment.

Ott says, “We want the community to know that when they deliver their baby here at The Dolly Parton Birthing Unit that we are giving quality care and keeping up to date on current standards and practices to provide excellent care for our patients.”

She added, “I am proud of our unit for taking on the challenge to decrease the risk of complications after birth for our newborns. The aim of this initiative was to increase the percentage of infants who receive optimal cord clamping in Tennessee. Participation by the staff and physicians here at LeConte helped to increase the percentage of OCC by 69 percent in the state of Tennessee from May 2022 to May of 2023.”

The Dolly Parton Birthing Unit is a modern, comfortable, family-oriented facility that gives parents the highest personal attention and medical technology available to create a memorable and pleasant birthing experience. That’s why eight out of ten Sevier County parents choose to have their babies at the Dolly Parton Birthing Unit at LeConte Medical Center.