A study of adequacy of informed consent before caesarean section in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Informed consent is an ethical and legal requirement and is practiced before all the surgical procedures. Caesarean section is the commonest obstetric surgery so, this study was aimed to assess the adequacy of informed consent in patients who underwent caesarean section at SMGS Hospital, GMC, Jammu.Methods: A cross-sectional study was done. A total of 230 patients were included in the study. A pre-tested and pre-validated questionnaire was used for the study. The data were expressed as percentage of proportion.Results: 230 patients participated in the study. About 96.95% patients knew the name of the procedure. 91.73% patients were informed about the indication of the surgery. 95.21% of the patients were aware about the benefits of surgery and about 93.41% of the patients were knowing risks of surgery. About 83.04% patients were informed about the procedure of the surgery. About 94.78% and 94.34% of the patients were aware about the need for the blood transfusion and future pregnancy options. Only about 4.35% of the patients were informed about the requirement and type of anaesthesia. 22.18% of the patients knew about the choice for alternate procedure and merely 2.18% of the patients were informed about the right to refuse the procedure.Conclusions: It was found that majority of the patients were well informed about the procedure and the related consequences. Still we can improve some elements of the consent process which can be done by proper awareness and training of health care professionals

A retrospective analysis of maternal mortality in an urban tertiary care hospital

Background: The aims of the study were to generate information regarding causes and complications leading to maternal deaths in an urban tertiary care centre and to find if any of the causes are preventable.Methods: The medical records of all maternal deaths occurring over a period of 4 years between January 2015 and December 2018 were reviewed.Results: Maternal mortality ratio ranged between 127 and 48 per 1, 00,000 births in the study. The causes of deaths were haemorrhage (29.47%), pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) (28.42%), anaemia (12.63%), sepsis (9.47%), thromboembolism (6.31%), hepatic causes (5.26%), blood reactions (3.15%), heart diseases (2.10%), central nervous system (CNS) related (1.05%) and others (2.10%). Maximum deaths occurred in women between 21-30 years of age. Mortality was highest in post-natal mothers (70.52%).Conclusions: Overall maternal mortality due to direct obstetric causes was (73.68%), indirect obstetric causes (22.10%) and unrelated causes (4.2%).

Perinatal outcome associated with oligohydramnios at term

Background: Oligohydramnios is a severe and common complication of pregnancy and its incidence is reported to be around 1 to 5% of total pregnancies. The aim of this study was to perinatal outcome of oligohydramnios (AFI <5) at term.Methods: A prospective study was conducted in which 200 patients at term with oligohydramnios AFI <5 cm with intact membranes were analyzed for perinatal outcome.Results: There were increased chances of FHR decelerations, thick meconium, increased LSCS, low Apgar score at 5 minutes, birth weight <2.5 kg, admission to NICU in pregnancy with oligohydramnios.Conclusions: An amniotic fluid index (AFI) of <5 cm detected after 37 completed weeks of gestation is an indicator of poor perinatal outcome. Determination of AFI can be used as an adjunct to other fetal surveillance methods that helps to identify those infants at risk of poor perinatal outcome