title: Antenatal and perinatal care in southern Italy. II. The clinicians' reactions.
abstract: One hundred obstetricians and 50 paediatricians engaged in public antenatal and perinatal care in southern Italy were interviewed about the provision of care in their facilities: 93% of the obstetricians judged the coverage of the target population to be insufficient and 53% of them considered the use of the risk approach to be unsatisfactory in public clinics. For example, no initiative was taken by 60% of public clinics when a woman at high risk failed to attend a booked antenatal visit. Bed rest during labour was prescribed by 72% of the obstetricians, a supporting relative was admitted to only 18% of the births and routine episiotomy was performed in 77% of primigravidae. Only 56% of the paediatricians interviewed allowed early contact between mother and baby. In public hospitals, 80% of paediatricians were present in the delivery room for the births. Screening for congenital hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria was executed in only 37% of the public hospitals. Newborn transport system adequate to national standards was available in only 33% of the hospitals. Antenatal and perinatal care need to be rapidly improved to meet population needs in southern Italy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mazzarella
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Scarpellino
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coppola
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cafiero
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quagliata
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pisacane
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires