Una Vita is a respected advisor in support of the current movement toward developmental supportive care (DSC) of high-risk neonates. Studies have shown that DSC care frequently results in decreased respiratory support, advanced oral feeding, and enhanced brain function and structure. A shorter hospital stay and a sense of empowerment in the parents are additional outcomes of this model, which contribute immeasurably to client satisfaction.

A range of medical and nursing interventions compliment this family-centered model of care. These include positioning, graded and adapted sensory stimulation, kangaroo care, non-nutritive sucking, pain control, reduction of environmental stress factors, and specific nurse assignment along with ongoing assessment of the neurodevelopmental condition of the premature infant.

From routine annual exams to minimally invasive surgeries to gynecologic oncology services, Una Vita incorporates emerging trends into every facility and organization it designs. Gradually, cutting-edge, less-invasive procedures are beginning to take place in ambulatory surgical centers, with patients experiencing short, 23-hour stays. For example, approximately 600,000 hysterectomies are performed on women annually in the United States, making it the second most popular procedure among women of childbearing age.

Here there is a trend toward minimally invasive surgical, vaginal, and supracervical techniques, requiring shorter stays. Fibroid treatments are also anticipated to be replaced by nonsurgical, mostly interventional, radiology procedures, where a patient can experience the bulk of her recovery in the comfort of her own home, while health care facilities experience more-efficient throughput. Such changes in patient flow and facility use will have a significant impact on system design as well as future hospital bed utilization, hospital main operating room schedules, and staffing on medical-surgical units.

Una Vita strives to create programs that serve as beacons in the field of state-of-the-art breast care, where screening and diagnostic services are combined with a full range of educational, treatment, and rehabilitative services. Within such programs, quality-control processes such as cross-functional team reviews of the short and long-term effectiveness of interventions enable breast centers to utilize their own experts in the field to constantly upgrade services.

Coming directly from our concept of women-centered care, our health navigation work has brought about revolutionary innovations in making health care more accessible to more women. Market research tells us that women desire more than expert clinical care alone. Many women desire assistance in making wise health care decisions, help in understanding tests and treatments, and someone to answer pressing health care questions. The Women's Health Navigator's role is to provide guidance at various stages of screening, diagnosis and treatment. The Navigator is a knowledgeable, compassionate partner and an expert in women's health. She encourages women to be involved with every stage of their treatment and ensures care continuity. The Himwich Group offers a Women's Health Navigator Educational Intensive, which trains support personnel and delivers a solid foundation on the role and its various responsibilities.

Una Vita guides facilities in establishing diagnostic pathways that incorporate risk factors for low bone density. This, along with publicity and education campaigns, and the use of health care databases, enables facilities to detect and serve more at-risk patients. Osteoporosis is the most prevalent bone disease in the U.S. today, and osteoporotic fractures occur more often than heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer combined. Osteoporosis is also one of the top-three most expensive illnesses to treat, costing Americans $20 billion a year, and expected to cost $60 billion by 2020.

It is estimated that 44 million Americans have osteopenia or osteoporosis, yet health care facilities typically only target post-menopausal Caucasian women for screenings. Our comprehensive outreach programming is designed to ensure that young adults, those with hormone imbalances, and those with diverse ethnic backgrounds, among other underserved populations, are brought into the system for needed screenings and treatment. Additionally, as the elderly population of the U.S. grows, the prevalence of osteoporosis becomes a health concern that contemporary health centers must address. We help our clients to grow their services through outreach to this important market.

Una Vita assists facilities in providing continence services as part of a business approach to health care that facilitates a robust growth. Urinary incontinence is a common problem occurring in up to 17 million women nationally. Surveys suggest that 80% of women surveyed mistakenly believe incontinence to be a normal part of aging. Screenings in neighborhood clinics have been able to identify many of those with unreported continence issues, typically finding symptoms in 25 to 34 percent of women. Our consumer research has shown that women would gladly utilize a program offering a full range of continence services in a stigma-free environment.

Ideal facilities provide extensive client education as well as clinical evaluation for an accurate diagnosis and underlying etiology, including urodynamics assessment, education for self-care, and nonsurgical and surgical consultation and intervention. Contemporary programs tend to follow the national trend toward effective, though less invasive, surgical procedures as well as offering restorative or palliative devices for treatment.

Una Vita designs comprehensive programs with women's cardiac care as an essential priority.  In the U.S., heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, killing almost 250,000 each year. Most women do not know about the prevalence of cardiovascular disease, nor do they recognize the symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. Early education as to proper diet and exercise, as well as an understanding of genetic factors contribute greatly to women's cardiac health, while a full complement of diagnostic and treatment options provide numerous pathways to recovery.

Treatments for heart disease will soon be moving away from cardiology to a focus on vascular biology and management of atherosclerosis. As a result, cases treated in the traditional hospital setting will become increasingly acute. This calls for organizational and facility design that is prepared to handle new technology. Life-saving procedures themselves are already moving from the macroscopic open-surgery approach to minimally invasive endovascular, image-guided, robotic interventions. Una Vita is here to advise executives as to the new physical and organizational needs that surround these welcome changes.

Since midlife women typically enjoy discretionary income and want to look and feel their best, they represent an increasingly receptive market for health spa and retail offerings. Una Vita is aware that 50% of women's health care services report receiving a profit from such indirect sources, and is available to guide emerging facilities in developing such programs. Such provisions are part of a proven business model that inevitably drives downstream utilization of services for any comprehensive facility.

Rehabilitation and training programs, interventional services, complimentary therapies, medical spas and retail offerings such as supplies and services for self-care can increase both client satisfaction with overall care and the facility's indirect revenue stream. We can help you develop these programs to enhance the hospital system's role in the women's health community.