NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – For catastrophic events and infectious disease outbreaks, obstetricians and facilities providing maternity care need disaster preparedness plans, according to an American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) statement.
“Advance planning for the inevitable and ever-increasing disasters (both natural and man-made), consideration of coordination or regional resources in times of crises, and advanced considerations for altered mechanisms for care delivery are very important,” Dr. Richard H. Beigi from Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who helped to formulate the Committee on Obstetric Practice statement, told Reuters Health by email.
The ACOG Committee Opinion, scheduled for online publication November 21 in Obstetrics & Gynecology, features 10 recommendations aimed at preparing hospitals and obstetric delivery units for disaster events.
The statement urges each hospital to appoint a full-time disaster coordinator and to participate in regional hospital disaster planning, as well as to appoint an obstetrician to direct disaster planning for maternity services.
Hospitals with maternity services also should develop specific strategies for stabilizing and transporting obstetric patients (along with their infants) and should have a designated safe location for laboring patients who cannot be transported because of imminent delivery.
Obstetricians and other obstetric care providers should plan to function with fewer resources by temporarily altering obstetric services. Options include early hospital discharge after delivery and enhanced use of telephone and telemedicine triage.
To support these efforts, communication strategies should include backup broadcast systems that take advantage of technology, such as the internet, that might be accessible when other lines of communication do not work.
“Pregnant women and newborns/infants are unique patient populations and thus require advance planning to optimize care during natural and man-made disasters,” Dr. Beigi said. “This should be driven by regional medical centers and large maternity hospitals providing this level of care.”
“Advance planning and consideration and coordination of care models hold promise to mitigate the severity of the impact of disasters on the health of mothers and newborns/infants,” he added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2jeb3p9
Obstet Gynecol 2017.
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