Maternal Critical Care

MZ-OA Maternal Critical Care

The MZ-OA continues to take an interest in maternal critical care and is determined to have a voice in the ongoing debate about who cares for sick pregnant women and where and how that care is provided. It is anticipated that as training in critical care medicine separates from anesthesia, these issues will become more urgent.

The MZ-OA is represented on the NICE guideline committee ‘Intrapartum Care for the sick mother’ which will be published in draft form for consultation in September 2018.

The OA is also represented on the clinical reference group of the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit (NMPA). In winter 2018/19 the NMPA will publish the results of a sprint audit into maternal critical care by linking intensive care records to maternity data. The aim of this audit is to understand why women are admitted to intensive care units and how this varies around the country.

Non-Luer / Small Bore Connections

Non-luer / Small Bore Connections

The transition to the new ‘NRFit’ series of connectors for neuraxial devices began in 2017.

There’s now an information resource at the NHS Improvement website, which individuals and organisations should use as their first point of reference.

The NHS has also issued an important clarification, pointing out that the 11 December 2017 ‘deadline’ in the original alert about the transition is the deadline for beginning the process of transition and not the deadline for completing the transition.

Unfortunately it’s not possible to provide information here about the current availablity of NRFit equipment from the various manufacturers. Individuals and organisations should seek this information from their usual procurement sources or industry contacts.

Thank you the AAGBI for providing us with the latest information on this topic.

Raising The Standards, RCOA Quality Improvement - Compendium

There is a dedicated obstetrics chapter, including contributions by MZ-OA Executive Committee members, covering:

  • Information for mothers about analgesia and anesthesia during delivery

  • Anesthetic care for women who are obese during pregnancy

  • Response times for the provision of intrapartum analgesia and anesthesia

  • Regional analgesia during labour

  • Airway and intubation problems during obstetric general anesthesia

  • Caesarean section anesthesia: technique and failure rate

  • Pain relief after caesarean section

  • Monitoring of obstetric patients in recovery and receiving enhanced maternity care

  • Timely anesthetic involvement in the care of high-risk and critically ill women

  • Postnatal obstetric anesthetic adverse effects and complications

  • Using patient experience data to improve care