Obstetric critical care requirements felt by the obstetricians: An experience-based study

Abstract

Background and Aims:Pregnancy is a state of physiological stress to a woman's health. Concomitant complications and infections during pregnancy may necessitate intensive monitoring and management of such patients in critical care settings. This study aims to determine the perceptions about the requirement of obstetric critical care based on the experience of obstetricians.Material and Methods:An observational, questionnaire-based study was conducted in 200 obstetricians working in various settings, who were approached during obstetric conferences. The questionnaire consisted of twenty items and was designed to determine the views of obstetricians, based on their clinical experience, regarding problems at the time of medical or surgical crisis in obstetric patients due to nonavailability of the intensive care services.Results:Seventeen percent of the participating obstetricians had a facility of dedicated obstetric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at their institution. In the opinion of 62% of the respondents, ICU bed was made available in cases of crisis. Forty-two percent of the obstetricians reported that it took <10 min for the intensivist to reach the critically ill parturient. According to 32% of respondents, the intensivist could not reach within 20 min. There was a delay of more than 30 min in providing critical care services according to almost half (49%) of the respondents. Postpartum hemorrhage (24%) was the leading cause of ICU admission, followed by pregnancy-induced hypertension (14%) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (12%). A majority (87%) of the obstetricians were strongly in favor of a dedicated obstetric ICU.Conclusions:Need for a dedicated obstetric ICU is felt by most of the obstetricians to improve patient care.

Cubosomes with surface cross-linked chitosan exhibit sustained release and bioavailability enhancement for vinpocetine

“…50 In addition, cubosomal structure would be solubilized by bile salt in small intestine into mixed micelles, which acts as lyotropic carriers with hydrophilic surface which facilitates the contact with the endothelial cell membrane by overcoming the "unstirred water layer" barrier. [51][52][53] On the other hand, although liquid cubosomes signicantly enhanced the absorption of VPT, the rapid digestion of GMO and the subsequent collapse of liquid crystalline matrix resulted in fast release of drug from cubosomes, preventing the maintenance of sustained release. This effect was supported by the observation that the T max and MRT of VPT were not signicantly affected by administration of VPT-loaded liquid cubosomes (Table 2).…”