Creation of interdisciplinary guidelines for care of women presenting to the emergency department with pregnancy loss

Abstract

A research trajectory is reported that created state-of-the-art interdisciplinary guidelines for care of women and their families who arrive in the emergency department with pregnancy loss. These guidelines include attention to mother and family bereavement as well as care of the fetus. Design was a triangulated non-experimental exploratory action research for the purpose of changing practice. Included were: (1) A qualitative study of emergency room nurses and physicians to assess beliefs/barriers to providing optimal care for pregnancy loss patients. (2) A focus group of perinatal bereavement providers; (3) Another focus group in the form of a sponsored National Summit of professional and lay experts and (4) A Delphi Study to craft language for national position statement. Results allowed the creation of interdisciplinary guidelines from the National Perinatal Association. These guidelines are being adopted by organizations and facilities throughout the United States. Training programs for emergency department personnel have been created by pregnancy loss organizations and are available.

The experiences of nurses and midwives who provide surgical abortion care: A qualitative systematic review

“…The psychological distress women experience during surgical abortion is likely to make them more sensitive to physical pain during termination (Georgsson & Carlsson, 2019). Therefore, there is need for effective pain control and useful pain assessment tools to ensure pain management, which is consistent with previous findings (Catlin, 2018; Georgsson & Carlsson, 2019).…”

Integrative Review of Emotional Care Following Perinatal Loss

“…Perinatal death has a profound impact on psychological and physical well-being of health care professionals, and this could affect the support they provide to bereavement patients (Shorey et al, 2017). Thus, culturally/sensitive education and training are needed to address the unmet needs and support health care professionals (Catlin, 2017; Shorey et al, 2017). Future challenges should aim to improve the training of the health care professionals regarding perinatal care.…”

Emergency Medicine Clinician Experiences Addressing Uncertainty in First-Trimester Bleeding

“…Interdisciplinary guidelines for care of patients with confirmed EPL (rather than undifferentiated FTB) in the ED have been developed to improve patient care ( 28 , 29 ). These guidelines recommend specific training for ED personnel surrounding assessment of the meaning of the pregnancy, grief counseling, and providing culturally competent and compassionate care.…”