| Popis: |
Ever since the publication of Bellantyne in 1901, advocating a promaternity hospital, 1 the concept of prenatal care has grown progressively to become a universal component of obstetrics care, not only in the developed world, but also in the developing countries. Nevertheless, the problem of the “unbooked mother” presenting for delivery in the labor ward has continued to create a dilemma for many practicing obstetricians and other health care providers. This is because many obstetric units have to decide whether to admit the unbooked mother and accept all responsiblity for the possible complications and unfavorable outcome that may issue, or turn her away and bear the consequences for such drastic measures. The question that often arises is why the unbooked mother has not bothered to attend the antenatal clinic, 2 and how her non-attendance might affect the outcome of her pregnancy, especially in view of the high perinatal and fetal wastage among these mothers. 2-4 It may be possible that the unbooked mother requires little or no attention from the health care provider, because she receives no antenatal care and spends a relatively short time in hospital for delivery. 2,5 Indeed, some studies contend that there is no apparent difference between the booked and unbooked mothers in terms of obstetric outcome. However, it has been shown that the unbooked mother contributes very substantially to the perinatal morbidity and mortality of the average obstetrics unit, and constitutes a large drain on the resources of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). 9,10 If a mother does not book for care in the hospital, there is little that can be done to ensure a favorable outcome. Adverse reactions by the health care provider to the mother who has failed to book her pregnancy for care in the hospital, on the other hand, can only be counterproductive |
