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Respiratory diseases affect a large proportion of the population and can cause complications when associated with pregnancy. Pregnancy induces profound anatomical and functional physiological changes in the mother, and subjects the mother to pregnancy-specific respiratory conditions. Reviewing respiratory conditions both specific and non-specific to pregnancy, the book also addresses related issues such as smoking and mechanical ventilation. Basic concepts for the obstetrician are covered, including patient history, physiology and initial examinations. Topics such as physiological changes during pregnancy and placental gas exchange are discussed for the non-obstetrician. Guidance is practical, covering antenatal and post-partum care, as well as management in the delivery suite. An essential guide to respiratory diseases in pregnancy, this book is indispensable to both obstetricians and non-obstetric physicians managing pregnant patients.
If you are an obstetrician whose patient has been admitted to ICU, you need to know how she is managed there. If you are an intensivist, you need to adapt to changes in physiology, alter techniques for the pregnant patient and keep the fetus from harm. This book addresses the challenges of managing critically ill obstetric patients by providing a truly multidisciplinary perspective. Almost every chapter is co-authored by both an intensivist/anesthesiologist and an obstetrician/maternal-fetal medicine expert to ensure that the clinical guidance reflects best practice in both specialties. Topics range from the purely medical to the organizational and the sociocultural, and each chapter is enhanced with color images, tables and algorithms. Written and edited by leading experts in anesthesiology, critical care medicine, maternal-fetal medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology, this is an important resource for anyone who deals with critically ill pregnant or postpartum patients.
This chapter provides an overview of hospital and departmental service delivery issues, which hospitals may use in formulating a service for the critically ill parturient. In general, critically ill parturients are cared for in the delivery unit or in an obstetric high dependency unit (HDU); alternatively they may be admitted or transferred to a medical or surgical intensive care unit (ICU). Generally, the HDU may be appropriate for pregnant or puerperal women who are conscious and who have single-organ dysfunction. Ideally, the HDU should be located in or in close proximity to the labor and delivery ward. The HDU physician director and nurse/midwife director can give clinical, administrative and educational direction through guidelines and education of the HDU nursing, medical, and other ancillary staff. Simulation can encompass a large range of activities ranging from basic skills and drills to more sophisticated multidisciplinary training in purpose-built simulation centers.
This chapter discusses the various clinical settings in which critically ill parturients may be cared for, along with the common nursing and midwifery staffing arrangements. Routine antenatal care consists of confirming the pregnancy and gestation, preventing rhesus isoimmunization, multidisciplinary planning for labor/delivery as appropriate, and surveillance of the common complications of pregnancy that may arise during an intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Notable pregnancy complications include gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes, and preterm labor. Importantly, the 7Bs of postpartum care include consideration of the mother-infant bond and the partner/broader family in recognition of the need to provide holistic care to critically ill patients. The 7Bs of postpartum care are blues, breasts, belly, bottom, body, baby, and beloved. Finally, effective communication and coordination of the health care team are important elements for the best outcomes to be achieved for the woman, her baby, and family.
This chapter summarizes standards and recommendations relevant to the care of the pregnant or recently pregnant critically ill woman for maternity and critical care. The acute care competencies required focus primarily on the clinical and technical aspects of care and the delivery of effective patient management. They assume the possession and application at every level of complementary generic competencies such as recordkeeping, team working, interpersonal skills, and clinical decision making. Maternity services should define which of their staff take on each one of the acute care responder roles and ensure that they have suitable training and assessment of the competencies they require. Lead professionals in maternity services have a responsibility to ensure that staff are deemed competent in the early recognition of acutely ill and deteriorating patients and are able to perform the initial resuscitation and management.
Maternal collapse includes a variety of acute life threatening events involving maternal cardiorespiratory or central nervous systems. Maternal resuscitation follows standard Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) guidelines with a limited number of pregnancy-specific alterations. The primary variation from non-pregnancy guidelines is the requirement to displace the gravid uterus laterally to increase cardiac output. Cardiac output during closed chest massage in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is approximately 30% of normal. Traditionally, displacement of the gravid uterus has been done by maternal tilt from 15° to 30° to facilitate increased venous return and cardiac output. Immediate awareness of the need to perform perimortem cesarean delivery 4 minutes after persistent cardiopulmonary arrest and the availability of an emergency kit for surgery can result in faster delivery of the baby, faster return of the maternal circulation, and better clinical outcomes for both mother and child.
The most important risk factor for thrombosis in pregnancy is a history of thrombosis. Although both heparin and warfarin are satisfactory for use postpartum, including in women who are breastfeeding, many women prefer to use low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) (with once-daily dosing postpartum) because they have become accustomed to its administration and because they can avoid the monitoring associated with coumarin therapy. With massive life-threatening pulmonary thromboembolism (PE), the pregnant woman needs emergency assessment by a multidisciplinary team of obstetricians, surgeons, and radiologists, who should decide rapidly on appropriate treatment ranging from intravenous unfractionated heparin (UFH) to systemic thrombolysis, catheter thrombolysis or embolectomy, or surgical embolectomy. Women are at an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), during pregnancy. In anticipation of delivery, surgery, or other invasive procedures, anticoagulation should be manipulated to reduce the risk of bleeding complications while minimizing the risk of thrombosis.
Complete and comprehensive surveillance of maternal mortality and maternal near miss should increase the consistency and accuracy of the data. Extremes of age, pre-existing medical conditions, language barriers, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status are recognized risk factors for maternal and obstetric complications. An important challenge to the identification of maternal near miss outcomes has historically been varying definitions between local, national, and international institutions. The majority of definitions may be classified as clinically based, organ system based, or management/intervention based. Organ-system dysfunction criteria are based on abnormalities detected by laboratory tests, such as platelet levels, and basic critical care monitoring. Complications from pre-existing medical conditions such as chronic heart disease are emerging as an important cause of maternal near miss, as improvements in medical care allow more women to live to reproductive age. Effective prevention policies are necessary to influence the long-term outcomes associated with maternal near miss.