Best practice & research. Clinical obstetrics & gynaecology
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High-profile inquiries in several countries have helped to raise public awareness of safety issues and driven policy change. In obstetric critical care, various publications have highlighted organizational factors, communication, absence of guidelines, failure to follow local protocols, poor documentation and delay in identifying the deteriorating woman as issues. ⋯ The principles of risk management and its various components can be used to make improvements. A framework to achieve this is as follows: building a safety culture; leading and supporting staff; integrating risk management activity; promoting reporting; involving and communicating with patients and the public; learning and sharing safety lessons; and implementing solutions to prevent harm.
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Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol · Oct 2008
ReviewRole of the anaesthetist in obstetric critical care.
The anaesthetist plays a key role in the management of high-risk pregnancies, and must be a member of the multidisciplinary team that is required to care for the critically ill obstetric patient. Anaesthetists are trained in advanced life support and resuscitation. They are experienced in the management of the critically ill, and provide anaesthesia, sedation and pain management. ⋯ To date, there is little evidence to inform the anaesthetic management of the critically ill obstetric patient; most recommendations and guidelines are based on the management of non-obstetric, critically ill patients. Management must be adapted to encompass the physiological changes of pregnancy. Evidence-based guidelines on management of the critically ill woman with specific obstetric conditions are also lacking.
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Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol · Oct 2008
ReviewCritical care in obstetrics: pregnancy-specific conditions.
This chapter summarizes the clinical presentation, pathophysiology, evaluation and management of six commonly encountered complications unique to pregnancy that require critical care management: obstetric haemorrhage; pre-eclampsia/HELLP (haemolysis-elevated liver enzymes-low platelets) syndrome; acute fatty liver of pregnancy; peripartum cardiomyopathy; amniotic fluid embolism; and trauma.
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Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol · Oct 2008
ReviewMultidisciplinary training in obstetric critical care.
Once identified, the critically ill obstetric patient will often fare well. Unfortunately, several recent publications show that many such patients are not identified and come to harm. Training for those caring for pregnant women has changed in recent years. ⋯ Other medical staff (anaesthetists, intensivists) may have experience of critical care in non-pregnant patients, but may be less aware of physiological changes of pregnancy that can affect how these patients are managed. The best way to address these issues is with multidisciplinary training, as highlighted in 'Safer Childbirth' and 'Saving Mothers Lives'. Such training allows each team member to understand his/her role and that of each of the other disciplines involved.
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The present chapter considers the evolving role of critical care outreach in the general hospital setting and applied to obstetric patients, the mechanics of transferring critically ill obstetric patients to critical care and radiology areas, the scoring systems in use in critical care, and the difficulties in applying these scoring systems to obstetric patients.