Field Notes in Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Unnecessary Testing in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and General Medicine The title of this column says it all. Update your knowledge about unnecessary testing.
May 01, 2007
Global Perspectives on Women's Health Highlights from the annual Autumn in New York meeting, including access to family planning, complications of labor and delivery, and epidemic conditions that affect women's health worldwide.
January 10, 2007
Care of Patients in Groups: The New Model of Healthcare Is the individual visit always the best way to deliver care? A conference suggests group care may be the way of the future.
April 19, 2006
Obstetric and Anesthetic Implications of "Body Art" Does a tatoo on the lower back preclude the use of epidural or spinal anesthesia?
April 03, 2006
Battling the Obstetric Malpractice Crisis How do we develop a culture of safety in obstetrics? Dr. Peter Bernstein discusses the 7 objectives of ACOG's Committee Opinion on patient safety in OB/GYN, aimed to reduce preventable poor outcome.
December 14, 2005
Improving Patient Safety, Part 1 Some scenarios describing a patient's pregnancies and deliveries are used to show that if systems supporting providers are better designed, poor outcomes may be averted.
October 31, 2005
Ask Every Woman: Focusing on Preconception Care "Ask every woman" may become the new mantra of preconception care.
July 22, 2005
Teaching and Recruitment in Obstetrics and Gynecology In order to be more appealing to students, the perception that the obstetrics and gynecology clerkship is an excessive service-oriented, nonteaching rotation will have to change.
April 01, 2005
Uterine Artery Embolization for Treatment of Fibroids Is UAE safe for patients who wish to retain future fertility?
January 04, 2005
Shoulder Dystocia -- Reducing the Legal Risk Dr. Peter Bernstein considers aspects of care and documentation that will help obstetricians care for their patients and protect themselves from liability should an untoward outcome occur.
October 12, 2004
Redheads Need More Anesthesia! "Redheads are a 'tough knockout'" is a commonly heard aphorism among anesthesiologists. Now, there is valid evidence that the saying is true.
August 16, 2004
Who Will Deliver Breech Babies Vaginally? The delivery of breech babies is rapidly becoming a lost skill largely based on the results of a single randomized trial.
July 15, 2004
Highlights From the SOAP Annual Meeting This society meets yearly to provide a forum for discussion of medical problems unique to the peripartum period and to promote excellence in research and education in anesthesia and obstetrics.
June 21, 2004
High-Dose Corticosteroids in the Treatment of HELLP Syndrome ACOG practice guidelines do not yet endorse routine use of corticosteroids for HELLP syndrome, but many centers around the world have begun to use a high-dose corticosteroid regimen.
March 19, 2004
Achieving Equity in Women's and Perinatal Health The large disparities between different racial and ethnic groups with regard to women's and perinatal health outcomes in the United States was the topic of this year's symposium, Autumn in New York.
December 15, 2003
Spinal Anesthesia in Obstetrics This brief review considers the current state-of-the-art of spinal anesthesia and its use in obstetric pain relief.
December 01, 2003
A New Model for Prenatal Care Innovative approaches are needed to reinvigorate the specialty and better achieve the goals of prenatal care. One such model is promoted by the Centering Pregnancy and Parenting Association.
October 06, 2003
Neonatal Encephalopathy and Cerebral Palsy This report is the most extensive peer-reviewed document on this subject published to date. The crux of it is that most newborn brain injury does not occur during labor and delivery.
July 07, 2003
Progesterone for the Prevention of Preterm Delivery? Two recent studies have renewed interest in the usefulness of progesterone supplementation during pregnancy for the prevention of preterm delivery.
May 16, 2003
The Argument for Prenatal Care There have never been well-designed studies that show that prenatal care improves pregnancy outcomes for large populations.
December 30, 2002