Early warning systems in maternity care: A qualitative evidence synthesis of maternity care providers' views and experiences

OBJECTIVE

To gain insight and understanding, from the perspective of maternity care providers, on the use and application of maternity early warning systems (MEWS) in clinical practice.

DESIGN

A qualitative evidence synthesis was conducted. MEDLINE, CINHAL, Web of Science Core Collection and Maternity and Infant Care (MIDIRS), from inception to March 2021, were searched for eligible studies. Grey literature sources were also searched for unpublished studies. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed by at least two reviewers using an Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating (EPPI) Centre quality assessment tool. Thomas and Harden's thematic synthesis approach was used to guide the data synthesis. Confidence in the findings was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation of Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research (GRADE-CERQual).

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Included studies reported on maternity care providers involved in caring for pregnant or postpartum women in any birth setting. Studies were mostly qualitative in design, although survey designs with open-ended questions that provided qualitative data were eligible for inclusion if the qualitative data had been subjected to formal analyses.

FINDINGS

Eight eligible studies, reported across nine records, were identified in the search and included in the review. Three themes representative of maternity care providers' views and experiences of MEWS were generated from the synthesis. These were 'Aid to clinical care provision', 'Impact on workload' and 'Factors affecting MEWS implementation'. MEWS was viewed as a useful tool in guiding clinical care, and for identifying deterioration and the need to escalate care. Some maternity care providers viewed MEWS as beneficial in easing workload burden. Others, however, viewed MEWS as adding to workload because of repetition and duplication. Training in MEWS was considered inadequate and concern existed for some care providers that MEWS would lead to deskilling or eroding of professional judgement.

KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Maternity care providers hold diverse views on the use of MEWS in clinical practice. While almost all consider MEWS a helpful aid for guiding clinical care, barriers to implementation were identified. These included added workload burden, inadequate training, and concern for deskilling. Attending to implementation barriers will help optimise use of MEWS in clinical practice as currently recommended.

Early warning systems in maternity care: protocol for a qualitative evidence synthesis of maternity care providers' views and experiences

Background: Early warning systems (EWS) have been widely adopted for use in maternity settings internationally. The idea in using these systems is early recognition of potential or actual clinical deterioration in pregnant or postpartum women, and escalation of care. Barriers to successful implementation and use of EWS, however, have been identified. If EWS are to be applied consistently, a greater understanding of the views and experiences of EWS from the perspectives of those using and applying EWS in maternity practice is needed. This protocol describes a qualitative evidence synthesis of maternity care providers' (midwives, obstetricians, and allied maternity care professionals) views and experiences of EWS use and application in practice. Methods: Studies will be included in the review if they report on maternity care providers use and application of EWS in any birth setting. Qualitative studies and studies of mixed methods design, where qualitative data can be extracted separately, will be included. To source relevant literature the electronic databases of MEDLINE, CINHAL, Web of Science Core Collection (incorporating Social Science Citation Index) and Maternity and Infant Care (MIDIRS), from date of inception, will be searched. The methodological quality of the included studies will be appraised using the 12-criteria of the assessment tool developed by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre. Thematic synthesis will be used for synthesising the qualitative data from included studies. The confidence in the findings will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation-Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research. Conclusions: The findings of this qualitative evidence synthesis may provide valuable information on the barriers, challenges, and facilitators for EWS use based on the experiences of those directly involved in EWS application in maternity care provision. PROSPERO registration: CRD42021235137 (08/04/2021).

Practical approaches to managing postpartum haemorrhage with limited resources

Mortality from postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is higher in low resource settings due to increased incidence, higher case fatality rates and poor general health of the population. The challenges of managing PPH with limited resources are presented. Feasible interventions for preventing and treating PPH for home births are described. Given that maternity care is organised around levels of care in low resource settings, guidance is provided for what measures can be performed to manage PPH at different levels of care (clinic, community health centre, district hospital, regional and central hospital); and by which cadre (midwife, clinical officer, general doctor, specialist). Effective management of PPH requires on-going training and emergency drills. Reducing mortality from PPH is not possible without available urgent transport from home to facility and between levels of care. In addition, the essential building blocks of the health system must be functional to enable effective management of PPH.