Internationally there is now quite a lot of information about postbirth
'morbidity'. From the view of measuring morbidity, one of the problems is
the lack of any real definition of what is part of normality when the body
(physical and psychological) is recovering from the changes it experienced
as part of pregnancy and the birth. In addition to this is the woman's
individual experiences inextricably linked with becoming a mother, for the
first or subsequent time. So what part of women's health postpartum are you
most interested in and does it include their perception of care? If so,
there is information about specific aspects of morbidity and aspects of care
in the following: Audit Commisison 1997 First Class Delivery and associated
papers by Garcia et al, about vaginal loss and involution by Alexander et al
1999 Midwifery 15.72-81 and Singh and Newburn NCT 2000, and the RCM
publication about Postnatal Care. In addition, there is a national GP
database and episodes of contact with a GP can be identified from these.
Alison MacFarlane may be able to give you more information about access to
this. I am not sure whether audit is undertaken for any service that is
within a community setting but lacks any measurable tool so maybe the only
aspect of postpartum health that would be looked at in this way is task
related - attending the 6 week postnatal clinic and screenig for postnatal
depression. The rest is probably more linked to the health and development
of the baby, but keep looking, in my view there can never be enough studies
about postbirth health for women and how midwives can help.
----- Original Message -----
From: Cheryl Cooper <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 10:45 AM
Subject: Re: Maternal morbidity
> Thanks Andrew
> Hadn't realised you had done work in this area, will now go look up your
> refs (when I get the chance!)
>
> Was aware of Glazener/McArthur and Bick's work.
>
> Does anyone audit morbidity, or is it left to HVs and GPs? It seems to me
> as midwives it is important we know what problems women are encountering
> post childbirth - may be the only way people think about how they
practice?
> Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree or just barking
> Cheryl
>
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