The Ottawa Hospital’s Clinical Practice Guidelinefor the Second Stage of Labour

A Quality Improvement Project Utilizing a Clinical Practice Guideline in Women During Second-Stage Labor

Second-stage labor is the most challenging stage of labor, as it requires increasing exertion of the birthing woman. Variances in nursing interventions in second-stage labor have an influence on outcomes. There is disparity in nursing care during second-stage labor. The purpose of this project was to evaluate a clinical practice guideline in second-stage labor with respect to positioning, timing of pushing, type of pushing effort, and the effect on birth method and perineal trauma. Spontaneous vaginal birth increased, vacuum extraction birth decreased, and vaginal birth after cesarean doubled. The rate of episiotomy decreased, the rate of multiple types of lacerations decreased, the rate of vaginal wall tears decreased, and the need for wound suturing of birth acquired lacerations decreased.

Maternal risk factors for adverse outcome in asphyxiated newborns treated with hypothermia: parity and labor duration matter

Introduction: Perinatal asphyxia remains a frequent cause of neonatal mortality and long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae, despite the introduction of therapeutic hypothermia. Specific maternal characteristics may predispose asphyxiated newborns treated with hypothermia to worse outcome.Objective: To investigate the possible association between specific maternal factors and adverse outcome in asphyxiated newborns treated with hypothermia.Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of our database of 215 asphyxiated newborns treated with hypothermia from 2008 to 2015. We collected maternal characteristics including parity and labor duration, and we defined adverse outcome as death and/or brain injury. We compared the maternal characteristics between the asphyxiated newborns who developed adverse outcome and those who did not.Results: Asphyxiated newborns born to nulliparous mothers had a significantly higher risk of adverse outcome (61%), compared to asphyxiated newborns born from primiparous (19%) and multiparous (20%) mothers (p = .002). Labor duration was longer in nulliparous mothers (p = .04). Among mothers who delivered vaginally, labor duration was significantly longer in newborns developing adverse outcome (p = .04). In multivariable analysis, parity was confirmed as an independent predictor of adverse outcome in all newborns, but labor duration showed a borderline non-significant association with adverse outcome (p = .051) only in newborns born vaginally. Labor duration beyond 12 h of life was associated with maximal sensitivity and specificity in detecting asphyxiated newborns at an increased risk of adverse outcome despite hypothermia treatment (AUC 0.62, p = .044).Conclusions: Newborns with evidence of perinatal asphyxia, born to nulliparous mothers, and especially to those in whom the duration of labor has been prolonged, might be at higher risk of death or brain injury despite the use of therapeutic hypothermia.

Systematic reviews of clinical practice guidelines: a methodological guide

OBJECTIVES

Systematic reviews (SRs) of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are unique knowledge syntheses that require tailored approaches to, and greater subjectivity in, design and execution compared with other SRs in clinical epidemiology. We provide review authors structured direction on how to design and conduct methodologically rigorous SRs of CPGs.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

A guidance paper outlining suggested methodology for conducting all stages of an SR of CPGs. We present concrete examples of approaches used by published reviews, including a case exemplar demonstrating how this methodology was applied to our own SR of CPGs.

RESULTS

Review context and the unique characteristics of CPGs as research syntheses or clinical guidance statements must be considered in all aspects of review design and conduct. Researchers should develop a "PICAR" statement to help form and focus on the research question(s) and eligibility criteria, assess CPG quality using a validated appraisal tool, and extract, analyze, and summarize data in a way that is cogent and transparent.

CONCLUSION

SRs of CPGs can be used to systematically identify, assess, and summarize the current state of guidance on a clinical topic. These types of reviews often require methodological tailoring to ensure that their objectives and timelines are effectively and efficiently addressed; however, they should all meet the criteria for an SR, follow a rigorous methodological approach, and adhere to transparent reporting practices.

Relationship between duration of second stage of labour and postpartum anaemia

AIM

To assess the relationship between the duration of the second stage of labour and postpartum anaemia during vaginal birth.

METHODS

An observational, analytical retrospective cohort study was performed at the "Mancha-Centro Hospital" (Spain) during the 2013-2016 period. Data were collected from 3437 women who had a vaginal birth. Postpartum anaemia was defined as a haemoglobin level below 11g/dL at 24h postpartum. A univariate analysis was used for potential risk factors and a multivariate analysis with binary logistic regression to control for possible confounding factors.

FINDINGS

The incidence of postpartum anaemia was 42.0%. The risk of postpartum anaemia did not increase in nulliparous women whose duration of the second stage of labour exceeded 4h. Compared with multiparous women who delivered between 0 and 3h, multiparous women with a duration of the second stage of labour beyond 3h were at higher risk of postpartum anaemia (OR=2.43 [1.30-4.52]).

CONCLUSION

The duration of the second stage of labour beyond 4h is safe for postpartum anaemia in nulliparous women. However in multiparous women, monitoring should increase if the second stage of labour exceeds 3h given the increased risk of postpartum anaemia.

The Perinatal Birth Environment: Communication Strategies and Processes for Adherence to a Standardized Guideline in Women Undergoing Second-Stage Labor With Epidural Anesthesia

Key to any perinatal safety initiative is buy-in and strong leadership from obstetric and pediatric providers, advanced practice nurses, and labor and delivery nurses in collaboration with ancillary staff. In the fall of 2007, executives of a large Midwestern hospital system created the Zero Birth Injury Initiative. This multidisciplinary group sought to eliminate birth injury using the Institute of Healthcare Improvement Perinatal Bundles. Concurrently, the team implemented a standardized second-stage labor guideline for women who choose epidural analgesia for pain management to continue the work of eliminating birth injuries in second-stage labor. The purpose of this article was to describe the process of the modification and adaptation of a standardized second-stage labor guideline, as well as adherence rates of these guidelines into clinical practice. Prior to implementation, a Web-based needs assessment survey of providers was conducted. Most (77% of 180 respondents) believed there was a need for an evidence-based guideline to manage the second stage of labor. The guideline was implemented at 5 community hospitals and 1 academic health center. Data were prospectively collected during a 3-month period for adherence assessment at 1 community hospital and 1 academic health center. Providers adhered to the guideline in about 57% of births. Of patients whose provider followed the guideline, 75% of women were encouraged to delay pushing compared with only 28% of patients delayed pushing when the provider did not follow the guideline.

Labor down or bear down: a strategy to translate second-stage labor evidence to perinatal practice

Scientific evidence supports spontaneous physiologic approaches to second-stage labor care; however, most women in US hospitals continue to receive direction from nurses and birth attendants to use prolonged Valsalva bearing-down efforts as soon as the cervix is completely dilated. Delaying maternal bearing-down efforts during second-stage labor until a woman feels an urge to push (laboring down) results in optimal use of maternal energy, has no detrimental maternal effects, and results in improved fetal oxygenation. Although most commonly used with women who are undergoing epidural anesthesia, laboring down is just one component of physiologic second-stage labor care that can be used to achieve optimal maternal and neonatal outcomes for women with or without an epidural. Prior efforts to translate evidence regarding second-stage labor care to practice have not been successful. In this article, the scientific evidence for second-stage labor care and previous efforts at clinical translation are reviewed. The Ottawa Hospital Second Stage Protocol is presented as a model with potential to allow translation of evidence to practice. Recommendations to enhance widespread adoption of evidence-based practice are provided, including improved collaboration between nurses and birth attendants.

Adaptation, evaluation, and updating of guidelines: article 14 in Integrating and coordinating efforts in COPD guideline development. An official ATS/ERS workshop report

INTRODUCTION

Professional societies, like many other organizations, have recognized the need to use more rigorous processes to ensure that health care recommendations are informed by the best available research evidence. This is the last of a series of 14 articles that methodologists and researchers from around the world have prepared to advise guideline developers in respiratory and other diseases on how to achieve this. We updated a review of the literature on guideline adaptation, evaluation, and updating, focusing on four key questions.

METHODS

In this review we addressed the following questions. (1) Which high-quality guidelines on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are available? (2) How should guidelines be adapted to the user's context and culture? (3) How should the use of guidelines be evaluated in clinical practice? and (4) How should guidelines be efficiently kept up-to-date? We did not conduct systematic reviews ourselves. We relied on a literature review published in 2006 and on a manual produced by the ADAPTE Collaboration to inform our judgments, as well as our collective experience and workshop discussions.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Guideline adaptation can be seen as an alternative to de novo development and as part of an implementation process, taking into consideration the user's own context. A systematic approach should be followed to ensure high quality of the resulting guidance. On the topic of COPD, many guidelines are available. Guidelines of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease and of the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society are particularly well-suited for adaptation. The adaptation process includes (1) definition of specific questions that need to be answered by the guideline; (2) assessment of guideline quality; (3) assessment of the clinical content, validity, acceptability, applicability, and transferability of the recommendations; and (4) decisions about adoption or adaptation of the recommendations. The use of the guidelines in practice can be measured with performance indicators. Adverse effects of strict adherence to guideline recommendations should be prevented, in particular when the improvement of patient outcomes is unclear. COPD guidelines should be updated at least every 2 years. Collaboration between COPD guideline developers is recommended to prevent duplication of effort.