Medical retrieval of pregnant women in labour: A scoping review

Authors/Creators

Jessica McInnes
Bridget Honan
Richard Johnson
Cheryl Durup
Ajay Venkatesh
Fergus William Gardiner
Rebecca Schultz, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Breeanna Spring

Abstract

Background: Remote Australian women in labour often rely on retrieval services to allow birthing in specialist obstetric centres. However, there is currently debate over when not to transfer a woman in labour, for risk of an in-transit birth, associated with worse neonatal outcomes. Methods: A scoping review methodology was undertaken, to define the scope of published literature on the topic and identify gaps in the current knowledge. Results: A total of seven full texts were deemed suitable for synthesis, which were all retrospective observational studies. Four themes from the studies’ findings were identified: population features, predicting time-to-birth, use of tocolysis and birth during medical evacuation. Conclusion: The evidence identified in this review was of low methodological quality and heterogenous. The key findings were that births in-flight are rare, despite geographical distances and long transport times, with a knowledge gap on predictors of time-to-birth.

RAS ID

54209

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

6-1-2023

Volume

26

Issue

2

PubMed ID

36335020

School

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Copyright

subscription content

Publisher

Elsevier

Comments

McInnes, J., Honan, B., Johnson, R., Durup, C., Venkatesh, A., Gardiner, F. W., . . . Spring, B. (2023). Medical retrieval of pregnant women in labour: A scoping review. Australasian Emergency Care, 26, 158-163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.auec.2022.10.002

Recommended Citation

McInnes, J., Honan, B., Johnson, R., Durup, C., Venkatesh, A., William Gardiner, F., Schultz, R., & Spring, B. (2023). Medical retrieval of pregnant women in labour: A scoping review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.auec.2022.10.002