GuidelinesOther guideline
Audit Meetings
The guidelines recommend management of common obstetric conditions at primary and referral level, based on local experience and evidence-based practice. They are not intended as strict protocols nor as standard operating procedures, but rather as a guide to safe effective management of common obstetric problems. The guidelines should be most useful to interns, medical officers and registrars.
Weekly or monthly M&M review meetings should be held in all institutions providing maternity care, & be attended by all doctors and midwives directly involved in the care of pregnant women.
Content of M&M meetings
- Presentation & discussion of weekly (or monthly) statistics
- Presentation & discussion of maternal deaths & perinatal deaths, & cases of severe morbidity or ‘near-miss’: the emphasis is on identifying problems & finding solutions to these problems. The meetings should not be used to identify ‘culprits’, as this discourages honesty & prevents identification of problems. In the discussion of a possible avoidable factor that led to a death, what was done is much more important than who did it. Audit of deaths may follow the format used in the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths
- Discussion of any problems that relate to the clinical care of pregnant women in the unit
ESSENTIAL AUDIT OF A PERINATAL OR MATERNAL DEATH
Identify:
- The primary cause of death
- The final and contributory causes of death
- Avoidable factors related to the patient, her family or her community
- Avoidable factors related to the health service administration or infrastructure
- Avoidable factors related to the health care itself
Then propose solutions to any problems identified.