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Background Obstetrical interventions during childbirth vary widely across European and North American countries. Regional differences in intrapartum care may reflect an inpatient-based, clinician-oriented, interventional practice style. Methods Using nationally representative hospital discharge data, a retrospective cohort study was conducted to explore regional variation in obstetric intervention across four major regions (Dublin Mid Leinster; Dublin Northeast; South; West) within the Republic of Ireland. Specific focus was given to rates of induction of labour, caesarean delivery, epidural anaesthesia, blood transfusion, hysterectomy and episiotomy. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association between geographical region and interventions while adjusting for patient case-mix. Results 323,588 deliveries were examined. The incidence of interventions varied significantly across regions; the greatest disparities were observed for rates of induction of labour and caesarean delivery. Women in the South had nearly two-fold odds of having prostaglandins (adjusted OR: 1.75, 95% CI 1.68-1.82), whereas women in the West had 1.85 odds (95% CI 1.77-1.93) of artificial rupture of membrane. Women delivering in the Dublin Northeast, South and West regions had more than two-fold increased odds of elective caesarean delivery relative to women delivering in the Dublin Mid Leinster region. The Dublin Northeast region had the highest odds of emergency caesarean delivery (adjusted OR: 1.36; 95% CI: 1.31-1.40). Conclusions Substantial regional variation in intrapartum care was observed within this small, relatively homogeneous population. The association of intervention use with region illustrates the need to encourage uptake of scientific based practice guidelines to better inform clinical judgment.

Objectives. We examined the relationships between risk factors amenable to intervention and the likelihood of dental care use during pregnancy. Methods. We used data from the Washington State Department of Health’s Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. Results. Of the women surveyed, 58% reported no dental care during their pregnancy. Among women with no dental problems, those not receiving dental care were at markedly increased risk of having received no counseling on oral health care, being overweight, and using tobacco. Among women who received dental care, those with dental problems were more likely to have lower incomes and Medicaid coverage than those without dental problems. Conclusions. There is a need for enhanced education and training of maternity care providers concerning oral health in pregnancy.

Background: Induction of labor is an increasingly common obstetrical procedure, with approximately 20-34% of women undergoing labor induction in the United States annually. Objective: To determine the extent of labor induction in the absence of standard medical indications and to assess possible associations with maternal and infant characteristics and hospital factors. Methods: We ascertained induction of labor and associated details as part of a medical record validation study of 4541 women with live, singleton births in 2000 in Washington State using medical record, birth certificate, and hospital discharge data. In this analysis, we report findings for the 1473 women (33% of original cohort) whose medical records indicated that their labors were induced. Results: Among women with induced labor, 7.9% had no clinical information providing an indication for the induction, and 6.4% had only \"nonstandard\" indications recorded. Compared with women delivering in moderate volume hospitals, women who delivered at lower volume (odds ratios [OR] 3.9; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.8-8.6) or higher volume hospitals (OR 4.2; 95% CI 2.4-7.2) had significantly increased risk for undocumented indication of labor. Women who had undocumented indication for induction were at significantly decreased risk of giving birth at a teaching hospital and a public nonfederally owned hospital, and were at greater risk to give birth at a private religious hospital. Factors that remained independently associated with nonstandard indication for induction of labor were primiparas (OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.3-4.2); multiparas ( OR 4.3; 95% CI 2.5-7.4), pregnancyinduced hypertension (OR 0.2; 95% CI 0.1- 0.4), hospital volume ≥ 2000 births annually (OR 19.9; 95% CI 6.7-58.6), primary (OR 11.7; 95% CI 4.1-33.6), and tertiary level hospital (OR 0.4; 95% CI 0.2-0.7). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that nearly 15% of inductions either were not clinically indicated according to standard protocols or indications were incompletely documented. At minimum, further studies are needed to explore how best to improve documentation of indications of labor because accurately describing, among other things, the process of labor induction, is a basic benchmark of care.

We sought to estimate the accuracy, relative to maternal medical records, of perinatal risk factors recorded on fetal death certificates. We conducted a validation study of fetal death certificates among women who experienced fetal deaths between 1996 and 2001. The number of previous births, established diabetes, chronic hypertension, maternal fever, performance of autopsy, anencephaly, and Down syndrome had very high accuracy, while placental cord conditions and other chromosomal abnormalities were reported inaccurately. Additional population-based studies are needed to identify strategies to improve fetal death certificate data.

Birth certificate and hospital discharge data are relied upon heavily for national surveillance and research on maternal health. Despite the great importance of these data sources, the recording accuracy in these datasets, comparing birth attendant type, has not been evaluated. The study objective was to assess the variation in chart documentation accuracy between certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) and physicians (MDs) for selected maternal variables using birth certificate and hospital discharge data. Data was obtained on women delivering in 10 Washington State hospitals that had both CNM and MD-attended births in 2000 (n = 2699). Using the hospital medical record as the gold standard of accuracy, the true positive rate (TPR) for selected maternal medical conditions, pregnancy complications, and intrapartum and postpartum events was calculated for CNMs and MDs using birth certificate data, hospital discharge data, and both data sources combined. The magnitude of TPRs for most recorded maternal medical conditions, pregnancy complications, and intrapatum and postpartum events was higher for CNMs than for MDs. TPRs were significantly higher in birth certificate records for pregnancy-induced hypertension, premature rupture of membranes, labor augmentation, induction of labor, and vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) for CNM-attended births relative to MDs. Among combined data sources, CNM TPRs were significantly higher for pregnancy-induced hypertension and premature rupture of membranes. CNMs had consistently higher accuracy of recorded maternal medical conditions, pregnancy complications, and intrapartum and postpartum events when compared to MDs for all data sources, with several being statistically significant. Our findings highlight discrepancies between CNM and MD hospital chart documentation, and suggest that epidemiologic researchers consider the issue of measurement error and birth attendant type.

I first observed childbirth in 1973 during a rotation at the Boston Lying-In Hospital, where I witnessed many women in labor screaming in a scopolamine stupor. What I remember most vividly were not the physicians and nurses, competent though they may have been, but the British-trained nurse-midwives who practiced as labor nurses. Their competence, confidence, and compassion had a calming effect on everyone in the room (including this terrified student-nurse). The experience was so gripping, in fact, that I left the hallowed halls of New England Deaconess Hospital for the hollows of Kentucky to enter the Frontier Nursing Service School . . .

Uterine rupture is more likely in women who have a trial of labor. Each year in the United States, approximately 60 percent of women with a prior cesarean delivery have a trial of labor in a subsequent pregnancy. Concern persists that a trial of labor may increase the risk of maternal complications as compared with elective cesarean delivery. Such complications include uterine rupture, which is uncommon but serious and may result in hysterectomy, urologic injury, a need for blood transfusion, maternal death, and perinatal complications, including neurologic impairment and death. 1 – 4 Population-based studies of the relation between a trial of labor and uterine rupture have had methodologic limitations and have produced inconsistent findings. . . .

Spiritus 15 (2015): 239 2015 by The Johns Hopkins University Press zational consultant, specializing in organizations committed to sustainability. www.hoopandtree.org; ecobard@aol.com Thomas Geiregger is a photographer based in Austria, who primarily concentrates on street photography. www.thomasgeiregger.com; t.geiregger@gmail. com Dragana Jokmanovic is from Podgorica, Montenegro. The current poem is third and nal part of a larger sequence entitled Trip-tych: An Ignatian Retreat. mccabeb@gmail.com Feldore McHugh has lived in Belfast for more than twenty years. Three of his books of poetry have appeared with the University of Chicagos Phoenix Poets Series, and Paraclete Press recently published The Sea Sleeps: New and Selected Poems (2014).

Numerous researchers have expressed concern over the impacts on medical records availability of the newly effective Medical Information Privacy rule, as authorized by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The increased costs associated with compliance with the rule, and the increased potential for financial liability, raises the possibility that hospitals may be less likely to participate in such research, resulting in a decrease of the validity of multisite studies designed to represent an entire population. Our multisite medical record validation study, designed to assess the accuracy of maternally linked birth records, provides an overview of a number of HIPAA implementation challenges. We found that the new HIPAA rule presents new challenges for those who rely on the release of medical record information for epidemiologic research. At the very minimum, increased compliance costs associated with human subjects protection and increased administrative burden for researchers would seem to be inevitable as medical institutions address the requirements of the new HIPAA rule by instituting more complex and thus more cumbersome procedures. Researchers should anticipate increased costs and plan accordingly when budgeting for human subjects review processes.