Implementing safe motherhood: a low-cost intervention to improve the management of eclampsia in a referral hospital in Malawi.

Abstract

We evaluated the effect of so-called monitoring and treatment charts on the management of eclampsia in a referral hospital in Malawi. Baseline characteristics, clinical management, as well as overall maternal and perinatal outcome were compared by reviewing the medical files of two groups, before and after introduction of the charts in 2006. The use of the charts has resulted in improved monitoring of women with eclampsia and may have contributed to the reduction in the planned prelabour caesarean section rate from 87% to 33%, as more women underwent induction of labour after stabilisation (P = 0.020). Overall maternal and perinatal outcomes were similar.

• Authors: E Drost, L R C W van Lonkhuijzen, T Meguid, D Landis Lewis, G G Zeeman
• Journal: BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology (BJOG) Vol. 117 Issue 12 Pg. 1553-7 (Nov 2010) ISSN: 1471-0528 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 21126322 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2010 The Authors Journal compilation © RCOG 2010 BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Costs and Cost Analysis
• Eclampsia (economics, therapy)
• Female
• Guideline Adherence
• Hospitalization (economics)
• Humans
• Malawi
• Medical Records
• Practice Guidelines as Topic
• Pregnancy
• Pregnancy Outcome
• Professional Practice (standards)
• Referral and Consultation (economics)
• Young Adult