A labor and delivery service unit model for a multihospital health maintenance organization.

Number of deliveries is no longer a relevant measurement for allocation of nursing resources in labor and delivery. A service unit model, which reflected the nursing effort to care for labor and delivery patients and the variability and unpredictability of these patients' needs, was designed for a major multihospital system. The development of the Labor and Delivery Service Unit Model for the Northern California Region of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program is described.