Peer Reviewed
Feature Article Pregnancy
Managing the early puerperium: increasingly the province of the GP
Recent articles on:
Childbirth
Childbirth
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Health problems in pregnancy
Health problems in pregnancy
Abstract
Complications such as incontinence and haemorrhage sometimes occur after birth. With women spending less time in hospital, managing women with these problems falls to the GP.
Key Points
- Maternal conditions that were common for hospital staff to manage have become the province of the GP and the home visiting midwifery service.
- Potentially life-threatening emergencies include postpartum haemorrhage, infection, severe hypertension and eclampsia, venous thrombosis and embolism, and occasionally severe psychiatric disorders.
- Postpartum haemorrhage may be due to retained products of conception, infection, uterine atony, genital tract trauma or blood coagulation abnormalities.
- Postpartum infection may be located in the breast, birth canal or bladder.
- Good liaison between hospital staff and GPs remains the key to providing excellent care for new mothers and their babies.
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