title: Hepatitis B virus serology in pregnant women: transmittal of results from obstetricians to pediatricians in California.
abstract: From late 1992 to early 1993, in order to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practice patterns of California obstetricians regarding hepatitis B virus screening of pregnant women and how maternal hepatitis B virus serologies are communicated by obstetricians to pediatricians, we mailed questionnaires to a random sample of 801 California obstetricians and 1030 California pediatricians. Response rates were 65.7% (526) for obstetricians and 71% (732) for pediatricians. Although 99.8% of the surveyed obstetricians indicated that they routinely screened all pregnant women for hepatitis B virus, their knowledge of the correct screening tests to order and their interpretation was mixed. Only 56.3% (95% confidence interval, 51.2 to 61.2) were aware of the California law and approximately 12% did not understand that it mandated universal screening of pregnant women. There was a great difference of opinion between obstetricians and pediatricians regarding how to communicate hepatitis B virus serology results on the mother. Forty-nine percent of obstetricians report that they always request the nurse to inform the pediatrician (48.6%), 51.2% always verbally inform the pediatrician, 39.1% always place an order in the mother's chart and 5.7% always send a letter to the pediatrician. In contrast only 12.9% of pediatricians responded that they always received maternal hepatitis B virus serology results from the obstetrical or nursery nurse, only 2.6% always received a verbal communication from the obstetrician, 14.1% always retrieved it from a written report in the mother's chart and 4.2% reported that they always received a letter from the obstetrician. A uniform system should be adopted to ensure efficient transmission of maternal hepatitis B serology results from obstetricians to pediatricians to ensure prompt treatment to prevent vertical transmission of hepatitis B.
authors.affiliation: Ahmanson Pediatric Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Greenspoon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pereyra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000639:trends; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000639:trends; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000639:trends; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012698:Serologic Tests