Clinical Facilities
In-patient Facilities
In 2018, The University of Maryland Medical Center opened a new 19,980 square, foot state of the art Obstetric Care Unit/Labor and Delivery unit (OBCU) on the sixth floor of the North Hospital Tower. The OBCU is equipped with 12 LDR suites, 3 operating room suites, a 4 bed intermediate care unit, a 5 bed pre-op/recovery unit, and a 5 bed triage/evaluation unit. This new unit which includes In-Room Neonatal Resuscitation and expanded family waiting and hospitality amenities is directly connected to new 10,402 square foot departmental administrative and educational spaces. The obstetrical anesthesia service maintains offices on OBCU and is on-site 24 hours a day.
Adjacent to the OBCU is our Mother-Baby Unit (MBU) with a total of 22 antepartum and postpartum beds, as well as the term nursery. A new state-of-the-art 52-bed neonatal intensive care unit is located below the OBCU on the fourth floor.
Out-patient Facilities
The out-patient facilities in which the Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellows work are located both on and off the UMMC campus.
The Center for Advanced Fetal Care (CAFC), a 6,380 square-foot unit, utilizes a multi-disciplinary team approach for the diagnosis and management of families with fetal structural, growth, infectious or maternal medical abnormalities. Our facility has a capacious waiting room and reception area. A report and data/image management area is equipped with a GE Viewpoint reporting and image processing system. Our nine ultrasound/procedure rooms are each equipped with a GE Voluson ultrasound. There is a conference/research room with teleconference capabilities and three research computer work stations, two genetic counseling consult rooms, two physicians’ consult rooms/offices and a lab area for specimen handling. The Antenatal Testing Unit is an integral part of the CAFC, consisting of a five-bed unit in which biophysical and electronic fetal heart rate monitoring is performed. The antenatal testing unit is equipped with three GE Logiq Book ultrasounds.
The CAFC serves patients from throughout the State of Maryland, and from adjacent parts of Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and beyond. It is at this site that most antepartum and genetic testing is performed. Anomaly scans, targeted imaging, fetal echocardiograms, nuchal translucency, fetal therapy procedures and genetic testing are performed in the CAFC. It is here that the fellows undergo the bulk of their ultrasound training. More invasive procedures such as fetal blood sampling and transfusion, or laser treatment of TTTS are performed in the labor and delivery suite.
The CAFC is staffed by maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists, RDMS-certified sonographers, ABGC-certified genetics counselors and dedicated nurses. Consultations with pediatricians, neonatologists, pediatric surgeons as well as social work and chaplaincy services are coordinated through the CAFC, and may take place within the CAFC to maximize patient convenience.
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mercy Medical Center, chaired by MFM division member Robert O. Atlas, MD, is fully integrated with our Department at UM-SOM. Under his direction, the Center for Advanced Fetal Care at Mercy Medical Center (CAFC @MMC) serves as an additional training site for the fellow. The CAFC @MMC provides the same spectrum of care as the university-hospital-based CAFC with the exception of invasive fetal therapy procedures. The fellows spend two months in the CAFC @MMC during the second year to gain additional training in an outpatient maternal-fetal medicine practice setting. Training opportunities include targeted sonography, amniocentesis, CVS, PUBS, transabdominal cerclage, maternal-fetal medicine consultation (outpatient and inpatient) genetic and preconception consultation. This 4,500 square-foot facility consists of a spacious waiting room, a reception area, a report and data/image management area, three physician consultation rooms, a genetic counselors office and separate consultation room, five ultrasound/procedure rooms and five exam rooms in which biophysical and electronic fetal heart rate monitoring are performed.
The University of Maryland Women’s Health Center at Western-Penn is located one block south of UMMC, and it is here that the High-Risk Pregnancy Clinic meets. The space consists of a large waiting room, clerical and administrative spaces, four consultation rooms and eight exam rooms. The High-Risk Pregnancy Clinic is in session three half days per week. During these clinics, the fellow leads a team of residents and medical students take part in all sessions. The fellow spends one session per week in the High-Risk Pregnancy Clinic and sees patients under the supervision of a faculty MFM specialist. The faculty member is present in the clinic at all times to provide close supervision of and consultation to the fellow. The goal of this organized clinical experience is to allow the fellow progressively more responsibility in evaluating and managing complex antepartum patients, while at the same time assuring close supervision and availability of faculty.