Introduction to principles of antenatal care
This tutorial costs £10.00
Ultrasound scan in early pregnancy.
The antenatal period is an extremely important time during pregnancy. It is well recognised that good antenatal care improves maternal, perinatal and neonatal outcomes. Most women will progress through pregnancy in an uncomplicated fashion and deliver a healthy infant with little medical intervention. However, a significant number will develop medical or fetal complications.
The current challenge in antenatal care is to identify those women who will require specialist support while allowing uncomplicated pregnancy to proceed with minimal interference.
The aims of antenatal care are to:
- provide high quality information that can be easily understood in the current climate of ethnic and social diversity
- provide informed choice about the pathways of antenatal care
- identify and screen for maternal complications
- identify and screen for fetal complications
- assess maternal and fetal wellbeing throughout pregnancy
- provide advice and education about the normal symptoms of pregnancy
Learning objectives When you have finished this tutorial you should have a better understanding of: - the principles of screening
- the principles and organisation of antenatal care in low risk pregnancy
- the identification of the high-risk woman
- the identification of the high-risk fetus
- the use of evidence based information in women-centred care
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Last updated: 14/07/10 (a new section has been added on external cephalic version. This section has been moved from the StratOG.net tutorial 'Operative vaginal delivery - vaginal breech' to this tutorial)
04/03/2010 (section added under 'Considerations for delivery' 'Birth after caesarean')
03/03/09 (BJOG paper added in 'Preliminary reading' and the 'Provision and organisation' section)
05/01/09 (BJOG paper added in the 'Common symptoms' section).