Antenatal care and intrapartum management.
Cost-effective care is an increasingly important issue in medicine. This will necessitate re-evaluating many aspects of antenatal and intrapartum care, including health-care delivery systems and routine surveillance techniques for uncommon events such as Down syndrome. It will demand justification for broadening indications for cesarean section by including fetal macrosomia and intensify the search for the causes of preterm labor. As new techniques are developed for intrapartum monitoring, such as fetal electrocardiography, fetal lactic acid levels, and near-infrared spectroscopy, they, too, will have to be determined to be cost-effective before attaining a role in clinical management.
Rush
C B
CB
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN.
Entman
S S
SS
D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control; D003363:Cost Control; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000191:economics*; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000191:economics / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000191:economics*; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis