International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

A night-float call schedule for attending obstetricians has been associated with improved outcomes for mother and child in recent maternal and newborn health research.

The study, which was published in journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, found following such a rota over a three-month period resulted in a fall in the need to manually remove the placenta from five per cent to zero.

It also saw the proportion of labours induced by physicians slip from 30 per cent to 16.7 per cent, the likelihood of an episiotomy being performed drop from ten per cent to 2.6 per cent and third and fourth-degree lacerations decline to 3.3 per cent from 10.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, oxytocin augmentation was more likely - rising to 75 per cent from 57.5 per cent - and cases of umbilical arteries having a pH of under 7.1 decreased to 2.2 per cent from 9.3 per cent.

Chairman of Ob/Gyn at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in the US Adiel Fleischer recently led a study published in the Journal for Healthcare Quality, which noted the implementation of a training and quality programme also improved obstetric outcomes.

Posted by Paul Robertson