Professional Ethics in Obstetric Practice, Innovation, and Research

Obstetric clinical practice, innovation, and research should be guided by professional ethics in obstetrics. In this chapter, the authors distinguish professional medical ethics from medical ethics and bioethics. They set out an ethical framework for obstetrics based on the invention of professional medical ethics by two eighteenth-century physician-ethicists, John Gregory (1724–1773) and Thomas Percival (1740–1804). Professional ethics in obstetrics appeals to the ethical principles of beneficence and respect for autonomy and the ethical concept of the fetus as a patient. This framework is deployed to provide ethically justified, practical guidance about two ethical challenges in obstetric practice: the professionally responsible role of nondirective counseling of pregnant women about induced abortion and the professionally responsible role of directive counseling about planned home birth. This framework is also deployed to provide ethically justified, practical guidance about professionally responsible obstetric innovation and research for fetal benefit.

The Canadian birth place study: examining maternity care provider attitudes and interprofessional conflict around planned home birth

Background Available birth settings have diversified in Canada since the integration of regulated midwifery. Midwives are required to offer eligible women choice of birth place; and 25-30% of midwifery clients plan home births. Canadian provincial health ministries have instituted reimbursement schema and regulatory guidelines to ensure access to midwives in all settings. Evidence from well-designed Canadian cohort studies demonstrate the safety and efficacy of midwife-attended home birth. However, national rates of planned home birth remain low, and many maternity providers do not support choice of birth place. Methods In this national, mixed-methods study, our team administered a cross-sectional survey, and developed a 17 item Provider Attitudes to Planned Home Birth Scale (PAPHB-m) to assess attitudes towards home birth among maternity providers. We entered care provider type into a linear regression model, with the PAPHB-m score as the outcome variable. Using Students’ t tests and ANOVA for categorical variables and correlational analysis (Pearson’s r) for continuous variables, we conducted provider-specific bivariate analyses of all socio-demographic, education, and practice variables (n=90) that were in both the midwife and physician surveys. Results Median favourability scores on the PAPHB–m scale were very low among obstetricians (33.0), moderately low for family physicians (38.0) and very high for midwives (80.0), and 84% of the variance in attitudes could be accounted for by care provider type. Amount of exposure to planned home birth during midwifery or medical education and practice was significantly associated with favourability scores. Concerns about perinatal loss and lawsuits, discomfort with inter-professional consultations, and preference for the familiarity of the hospital correlated with less favourable attitudes to home birth. Among all providers, favourability scores were linked to beliefs about the evidence on safety of home birth, and confidence in their own ability to manage obstetric emergencies at a home birth. Conclusions Increasing the knowledge base among all maternity providers about planned home birth may increase favourability. Key learning competencies include criteria for birth site selection, management of obstetric emergencies at planned home births, critical appraisal of literature on safety of home birth, and inter-professional communication and collaboration when women are transferred from home to hospital.

The Canadian birth place study: examining maternity care provider attitudes and interprofessional conflict around planned home birth

Background Available birth settings have diversified in Canada since the integration of regulated midwifery. Midwives are required to offer eligible women choice of birth place; and 25-30% of midwifery clients plan home births. Canadian provincial health ministries have instituted reimbursement schema and regulatory guidelines to ensure access to midwives in all settings. Evidence from well-designed Canadian cohort studies demonstrate the safety and efficacy of midwife-attended home birth. However, national rates of planned home birth remain low, and many maternity providers do not support choice of birth place. Methods In this national, mixed-methods study, our team administered a cross-sectional survey, and developed a 17 item Provider Attitudes to Planned Home Birth Scale (PAPHB-m) to assess attitudes towards home birth among maternity providers. We entered care provider type into a linear regression model, with the PAPHB-m score as the outcome variable. Using Students’ t tests and ANOVA for categorical variables and correlational analysis (Pearson’s r) for continuous variables, we conducted provider-specific bivariate analyses of all socio-demographic, education, and practice variables (n=90) that were in both the midwife and physician surveys. Results Median favourability scores on the PAPHB–m scale were very low among obstetricians (33.0), moderately low for family physicians (38.0) and very high for midwives (80.0), and 84% of the variance in attitudes could be accounted for by care provider type. Amount of exposure to planned home birth during midwifery or medical education and practice was significantly associated with favourability scores. Concerns about perinatal loss and lawsuits, discomfort with inter-professional consultations, and preference for the familiarity of the hospital correlated with less favourable attitudes to home birth. Among all providers, favourability scores were linked to beliefs about the evidence on safety of home birth, and confidence in their own ability to manage obstetric emergencies at a home birth. Conclusions Increasing the knowledge base among all maternity providers about planned home birth may increase favourability. Key learning competencies include criteria for birth site selection, management of obstetric emergencies at planned home births, critical appraisal of literature on safety of home birth, and inter-professional communication and collaboration when women are transferred from home to hospital.

Planned Home Birth in Low-Risk Pregnancies in Spain: A Descriptive Study

Previous studies have shown that planned home birth in low-risk pregnancies is a generally safe option. However nowadays, only 0.5 percent of deliveries have been at home in Spain. This study sought to understand the characteristics of planned home births with qualified healthcare professionals in low-risk pregnancies and their results on maternal and neonatal health in the Balearic Islands. The study followed a retrospective descriptive design to investigate planned home births from 1989 to 2019 (n = 820). Sociodemographic data of women, healthcare professional intervention rates, and maternal/fetal morbidity/mortality results were collected. Statistical analysis of the results was performed using the IBM SPSS Version 25 software package. The results indicated that women with low-risk pregnancies who planned home births with a qualified midwife had a higher probability of spontaneous vaginal birth delivery and positive maternal health results. Furthermore, the risk of hospital transfer was low (10.7%) and the rate of prolonged breastfeeding (>1 year) was extremely high (99%). Moreover, the study showed that planned home births can be generally associated with fetal well-being. The conclusions and implications of this study are that planned home births in low-risk pregnancies attended by qualified midwives in the Balearic Islands achieve positive results in both maternal and newborn health, as well as low rates of obstetric intervention.

Information that (de)motivate women’s decision making on Planned Home Birth

ABSTRACT Objective: To understand how information about Planned Home Birth motivates or discourages women’s decisions on this location of birth. Method: Descriptive exploratory study, qualitative approach. Data collection carried out from February to April 2019, through semi-structured interviews with 14 women and documentary sources. The data were analyzed using Bardin’s content analysis process, with the help of ATLAS.ti 8.0. Results: The motivations for choosing Planned Home Birth are: respect for the autonomy and natural process of childbirth and delivery, support from a partner and trust in professionals. Aspects that discourage this choice are fear of complications, the need for a hospital medical structure, opinions that value risk. Conclusion: Women’s choices are based not only on information, but also on how that information is processed. This study demonstrated that the perception pertaining to the safety of Planned Home Birth is essential for making this decision.

Experience of women in the transfer from planned home birth to hospital

Objective: to describe the experiences of women in the transfer from planned home birth to the hospital. Methods: qualitative research, subsidized by Thematic Oral History, in which six women participated, attended by the home birth team and transferred to a maternity ward, during the parturition process. The semi-structured interview script with oral history generated five categories. Results: five thematic categories emerged: Motivating factors for choosing planned home birth; Positive experiences on intrapartum care in the home environment; Indications of hospital transfer; Feelings experienced during and after hospital transfer; Obstetric violence during hospitalization. Conclusion: the motivations for choosing planned home birth favored the positive experience of the parturition process, while hospitalization reflected obstetric violence.