Perinatal audit: does confidential enquiry have a place?

Perinatal mortality audits and reviews: Past, present and the way forward

Perinatal deaths are devastating for families and staff involved. Failure to examine perinatal deaths for substandard care prevents learning and may lead to recurrence of events, as well as prolonged morbidity in bereaved families and hospital staff. Perinatal mortality reviews can identify factors contributing to suboptimal care. An integrative literature review was carried out to study the different types of perinatal mortality reviews currently being done internationally, establishing a comparison and examining promising new developments. We start by outlining issues with the classification of perinatal deaths and the different types of perinatal mortality reviews carried out in high-income countries. We reflect on the challenges that are encountered in the current processes and we then comment on how these may be overcome. Current literature shows that differences in classifications of perinatal deaths continue to impede important international comparisons. National perinatal mortality audits can provide reliable high-quality data to facilitate national and international benchmarking. Confidential enquiries give expert assessment on anonymised information to initiate system-wide improvements, but to provide local information on perinatal deaths unit-based multi-disciplinary team reviews are required. Additionally, there is a need to shift from a blame-culture to a focus on achieving best practice by learning from mistakes. Review tools and processes have been implemented in some countries to standardize perinatal mortality reviews, but there is still more work to be done. Involving the bereaved parents in the perinatal mortality review process is important and ways to achieve this are progressing. A structured approach to the perinatal mortality review process should be developed to facilitate sharing of experiences and challenges at national (or international) level. To achieve a reduction in the number of stillbirths and neonatal deaths, it is crucial to ensure that the perinatal mortality audit and review cycle is completed with implementation and re-evaluation of recommended changes in maternity services.

Confidential enquiry of stillbirths in current obstetric practice

OBJECTIVE

Confidential panel enquiry into sub-optimal factors relating to stillbirths.

METHOD

All 121 stillbirths in KK Women's and Children's Hospital in the years 1995 and 1996 were studied. Three assessors reviewed the case records of each death, and panel consensus was reached regarding sub-optimal antenatal care and factors leading to stillbirths.

RESULT

The incidence rate of stillbirth was 4.04 per 1000 deliveries. A total of 76 cases (62.8%) were found to have grade II and III sub-optimal factors in their management. Patients themselves were involved in the sub-optimal management of their own pregnancy in 52.9% of the stillbirths. Primary healthcare givers were involved in 8.3% of all stillbirths, specialist caregivers 12.4% and antenatal care system 4.1%.

CONCLUSION

The study has identified sub-optimal antenatal management in over 60% of cases. As patients' factors form the major contribution towards sub-optimal care, management strategy aimed towards improving patients' education and compliance to antenatal care should be a priority.

Studies of avoidable factors influencing death: a call for explicit criteria

OBJECTIVE

To analyse studies evaluating cases of potentially "avoidable" death.

DESIGN

The definitions, sources of information, and methods were reviewed with a structured protocol. The different types of avoidable factors,--that is, deficiencies in medical care that may have contributed to death--were categorised. The presence of explicit classifications and standards was examined. basic criteria for quality of the studies were defined and the numbers of studies fulfilling these criteria were assessed.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

65 studies, published during 1988-93 in peer reviewed medical journal for which the title, or abstract, or both indicated that they had analysed potentially avoidable factors influencing death. Studies analysing aggregated data only, were not included.

RESULTS

Only one third of the studies fulfilled basic quality criteria,--namely, that the avoidable factors examined should be defined and the sources of information and people responsible for the judgements presented. The definitions used comprised two levels, one stating that there had been errors in management (process) and the other that the errors may have contributed to the deaths (outcome). Only 15% of the studies explicitly defined what type of factors they had looked for and 8% referred to specified standards of care.

CONCLUSIONS

Studies of avoidable factors influencing death may have considerable potential as part of a system of improving medical care and reducing avoidable mortality. At present, however, the results from different studies are not comparable, due to differences in materials and methods. There is a need to improve the quality of the studies and to define standardised explicit definitions and classifications.

The association between small size for gestational age and perinatal and neonatal death in a UK Regional Health Authority

Confidential enquiry into stillbirth and death in infancy is a health service requirement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A confidential review of perinatal death has been conducted in South-East Thames Region since 1988. Data collected for this review are analysed here. Among the 1662 singleton deaths in the enquiry from 1988 to 1991, 530 (32%) babies were small for gestational age (SGA < 10th centile): 338 of these (64%) were < 3rd centile and the remainder were between 3rd-10th centile. Small size for gestational age was significantly associated with a previous SGA baby (P = 0.02), proteinuric hypertension (P = 0.001) and increased placental-birthweight ratio (P = 0.008). Only 135 (25%) SGA fetuses were identified antenatally and multiple logistic regression showed that antenatal detection was independently related to proteinuric hypertension [odds ratio (OR) = 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.47-4.17, P = 0.001) and to being < 3rd centile rather than 3rd-10th centile (OR = 3.16, 95% CI 1.96-5.10, P = 0.001). Although confidential enquiries have been criticised for a lack of objectivity the study indicates how data from such an enquiry can increase knowledge of events influencing peri- and neonatal outcome allowing strategies to be devised to effect change.

The perinatal autopsy: a contemporary approach

As autopsy rates in general hospitals decline, interest in the perinatal autopsy continues to rise, reflecting the emergence of a vigorous specialty growing in parallel with fetal medicine, prenatal diagnosis and clinical genetics. Perinatal autopsies are best carried out in tertiary centres which provide these services. Meticulous documentation, flexibility of technique, intelligent use of laboratory tests and wide systematic histopathologic sampling are emphasized. Microbiologic examination is of particular value when carried out by a laboratory having a special interest in genital tract and perinatal pathogens. Karyotyping must be selective if resources are to be conserved and is most productive when there are multiple malformations. Perinatal autopsy is not complete without examination of the placenta and significant lesions should be clearly distinguished from curiosities and from changes secondary to fetal death. The pathologist's wider contribution to perinatal medicine includes providing high quality data to epidemiology units and auditing committees, contributing to the multidisciplinary management of prenatally diagnosed fetal abnormalities, monitoring iatrogenic disease patterns and supporting the process of perinatal grief management. Special problems and diagnostic challenges are to be found when investigating sudden, unexplained intrauterine fetal death, hydrops, bone dysplasias and complicated multiple pregnancies.