Modelos de organización de los servicios de atención al parto : efecto sobre la provisión de servicios y los resultados

Existen diferentes modelos para la provisión de servicios de atención al parto y distintos factores relacionados con la organización de los servicios en los que se atiende a las mujeres. En esta tesis se exploran los resultados de la atención al parto en Cataluña, y se comparan los resultados de 64 hospitales en base al tipo de financiación y también al volumen de partos anuales que se atiende en cada centro hospitalario. En este trabajo también se evalúa el impacto de una política sanitaria para implantar un modelo de atención al parto normal, basado en un concepto fisiológico y que promueve un uso racional de los recursos sanitarios disponibles. Para contextualizar el trabajo se ha realizado una exploración de diferentes modelos de atención en varios países industrializados, se han buscado los indicadores más utilizados en Europa, para la evaluación de este tipo de atención, y se han elaborado indicadores específicos y adecuados al contexto catalán. Para la exploración de los diferentes modelos de atención y de los indicadores para la evaluación más utilizados en Europa se ha realizado una revisión crítica de la bibliografía y de diferentes bases de datos. Además se han realizado entrevistas con expertos. Para la comparación de los resultados se han extraído los diagnósticos y procedimientos relacionados del Conjunto Mínimo Básico de Datos (CMBD) registrados en el Servei Català de la Salut. Además, se han agrupado los hospitales según el tipo de financiación y según el volumen de partos atendidos y se han comparado los resultados de todos los partos únicos de entre 37 a 42 semanas de gestación. Las conclusiones más relevantes son que el tipo de financiación y el volumen de partos atendidos en los hospitales tienen un efecto significativo en las intervenciones obstétricas investigadas en Cataluña. Por otra parte, la realización de episiotomía ha descendido de forma significativa y la incidencia de lesiones perineales graves se ha mantenido por debajo del 1% en todos los hospitales de Cataluña.There are different models of maternity care and also other factors related to the organisation of services in which women are attended to. In this thesis the results of delivery of birth care in Catalonia are investigated, and the outcomes of 64 hospitals are compared according to the type of financing and volume of births attended to in each hospital. This thesis also evaluates the impact of the undertaken maternity care policy for the implementation of the normal childbirth model of care and to promote a rational use of the existing health care resources. For the contextualization of this work, some models of care in different industrialized countries are explored, and also it has been identified the most widely used indicators for the assessment of maternity care in Europe. Then specific and appropriate indicators for the Catalan context have been developed. To get information on different models of care and to know what indicators are used in the European context, it has been conducted a critical review of literature, an exploration on several database and also interviews with experts. A number of selected diagnoses and procedures have been obtained from the Minimum Basic Data Set (MBDS) recorded in the Catalan Health Service for the comparison of outcomes. Hospitals have been grouped by type of financing and by the volume of births attended to. All singleton births between 37 to 42 weeks of pregnancy have been included on the analysis. The most relevant conclusions are the type of funding and the volume of births in hospital have a significant effect on the obstetric interventions investigated in Catalonia. Also episiotomy has decreased significantly, and the incidence of severe perineal trauma has remained below 1% in all hospitals in Catalonia

The extent of the implementation of reproductive health strategies in Catalonia (Spain) (2008-2017)

Objetivo: Analizar la implementación de las estrategias de salud reproductiva en las actividades cotidianas de los servicios y la transformación de las prácticas de profesionales y usuarias. Método: Investigación cartográfica de tipo etnográfico multilocal orientada a captar los procesos de transformación. Técnicas de generación de datos: observación participante y entrevistas situadas. Análisis del discurso del corpus textual a partir de tres líneas de acción promovidas por las estrategias. Resultados: Se observan elementos de transformación en: 1) desmedicalización: aumento de la competencia y autonomía de la matrona, cambios en las episiotomías y facilitación de prácticas de vínculo; 2) calidez en la atención: incorporación de las necesidades y expectativas de la mujer y mejoras en la confortabilidad de los espacios en partos fisiológicos; y 3) participación: acciones que favorecen la toma de decisiones compartida y mayor implicación de la persona acompañante. Conclusiones: La transformación se visibiliza sobre todo en la incorporación de nuevas actitudes, nuevas sensibilidades y nuevas praxis que empiezan alrededor de las viejas estructuras, especialmente en la atención al parto fisiológico. Los espacios más tecnificados han sido menos permeables al cambio. La gestión del riesgo en la toma de decisiones y el abordaje de la diversidad se identifican como campos en los que la transformación es menos evidente.Objective: We analyse how reproductive health strategies have been incorporated into the everyday activities of the services and the resulting transformation of professional and user practices. Method: Cartographic research taking a multi-sited ethnographic approach that seeks to reveal the processes of transformation. Data generation techniques featuring participant observation and situated interviews. Discourse analysis of the text corpus using three analytical axes based on three main lines of action promoted by the strategies. Results: We identified transformations in: 1) demedicalisation: an increase in midwives’ know-how and autonomy, changes in episiotomy practice and the facilitation of bonding practices; 2) warmth of care: incorporation of women's needs and expectations and improvements in the comfortableness of birth settings, especially in assistance at physiological birth; and 3) participation: actions that foster shared decision-making and the involvement of the persons accompanying women in labour. Conclusions: Above all, transformation is visible in the incorporation of new attitudes, sensibilities and practices that have developed around the old structures, especially during physiological childbirth. The more technological areas have been less permeable to change. Risk management in decision-making and addressing diversity are identified as areas where transformation is less evident

Obstetric interventions in two groups of hospitals in Catalonia: a cross-sectional study

Background: Childbirth assistance in highly technological settings and existing variability in the interventions performed are cause for concern. In recent years, numerous recommendations have been made concerning the importance of the physiological process during birth. In Spain and Catalonia, work has been carried out to implement evidence-based practices for childbirth and to reduce unnecessary interventions. To identify obstetric intervention rates among all births, determine whether there are differences in interventions among full-term single births taking place in different hospitals according to type of funding and volume of births attended to, and to ascertain whether there is an association between caesarean section or instrumental birth rates and type of funding, the volume of births attended to and women’s age. Methods: Cross-sectional study, taking the hospital as the unit of analysis, obstetric interventions as dependent variables, and type of funding, volume of births attended to and maternal age as explanatory variables. The analysis was performed in three phases considering all births reported in the MBDS Catalonia 2011 (7,8570 births), full-term single births and births coded as normal. Results: The overall caesarean section rate in Catalonia is 27.55% (CI 27.23 to 27.86). There is a significant difference in caesarean section rates between public and private hospitals in all strata. Both public and private hospitals with a lower volume of births have higher obstetric intervention rates than other hospitals (49.43%, CI 48.04 to 50.81). Conclusions: In hospitals in Catalonia, both the type of funding and volume of births attended to have a significant effect on the incidence of caesarean section, and type of funding is associated with the use of instruments during delivery

Impact of maternity care policy in Catalonia: a retrospective cross-sectional study of service delivery in public and private hospitals

Background: As a result of the growing number of interventions that are now performed in the context of maternity care, health authorities have begun to examine the possible repercussions for service provision and for maternal and neonatal health. In Spain the Strategy Paper on Normal Childbirth was published in 2008, and since then the authorities in Catalonia have sought to implement its recommendations. This paper reviews the current provision of maternity care in Catalonia. Methods: This was a descriptive study. Hospitals were grouped according to their source of funding (public or private) and were stratified (across four strata) on the basis of the annual number of births recorded within their respective maternity service. Data regarding the distribution of obstetric professionals were taken from an official government survey of hospitals published in 2010. The data on obstetric interventions (caesarean, use of forceps, vacuum or non-specified instruments) performed in 2007, 2010 and 2012 were obtained by consulting discharge records of 44 public and 20 private hospitals, which together provide care in 98% of all births in Catalonia. Proportions and confidence intervals were calculated for each intervention performed in all full-term (37–42 weeks) singleton births. Results: Analysis of staff profiles according to the stratification of hospitals showed that almost all the hospitals had more obstetricians than midwives among their maternity care staff. Public hospitals performed fewer caesareans [range between 19.20% (CI 18.84-19.55) and 28.14% (CI 27.73-28.54)] than did private hospitals [range between 32.21% (CI 31.78-32.63) and 39.43% (CI 38.98-39.87)]. The use of forceps has decreased in public hospitals. The use of a vacuum extractor has increased and is more common in private hospitals. Conclusions: Caesarean section is the most common obstetric intervention performed during full-term singleton births in Catalonia. The observed trend is stable in the group of public hospitals, but shows signs of a rise among private institutions. The number of caesareans performed in accredited public hospitals covers a limited range with a stable trend. Among public hospitals the highest rate of caesareans is found in non-accredited hospitals with a lower annual number of births.This study forms part of the research project, FEM2012-33067, which is funded by Spain’s Ministry of Economy and Competitivenes

Cross-sectional study comparing public and private hospitals in Catalonia: is the practice of routine episiotomy changing?

Background. In Spain, the Strategy for Assistance in Normal Childbirth (SANC) promoted a model of care, which respects the physiological birth process and discards unnecessary routine interventions, such as episiotomies. We evaluated the rate of episiotomy use and perineal trauma as indicators of how selective introduction of the SANC initiative has impacted childbirth outcomes in hospitals of Catalonia./nMethods. Cross-sectional study of all singleton vaginal term deliveries without instrument registered in the Minimum Basic Data Set (MBDS) of Catalonia in 2007, 2010 and 2012. Hospitals were divided into types according to funding (public or private), and four strata were differentiated according to volume of births attended./nEpisiotomies and perineal injury were considered dependent variables. The relationship between qualitative variables was analysed using the chi-squared test, and Student’s t-test was used for quantitative variables. Comparison of proportions was performed on the two hospital groups between 2007 and 2012 using a Z-test. Logistic regression models were used to analyse the relationship between episiotomy or severe perineal damage and maternal age, volume of births and hospital type, obtaining odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)./nResults. The majority of normal singleton term deliveries were attended in public hospitals, where maternal age was lower than for women attended in private hospitals. Analysis revealed a statistically significant (P < 0.001) decreasing trend in episiotomy use in Catalonia for both hospital types. Private hospitals appeared to be associated with increased episiotomy rate in 2007 (OR = 1.099, CI: 1,057–1,142), 2010 (OR = 1.528, CI: 1,472–1,587) and 2012 (OR = 1.459, CI: 1,383–1,540), and a lower rate of severe perineal trauma in 2007 (OR = 0.164, CI: 0.095–0.283), 2010 (OR = 0.16, CI: 0.110–0.232) and 2012 (OR = 0.19, CI: 0.107–0.336). Regarding severe perineal injury, when independent variables were adjusted, maternal age ceased to have a significant correlation in 2012 (OR = 0.994, CI: 0.970–1.018)./nConclusions. Episiotomy procedures during normal singleton vaginal term deliveries in Catalonia has decreased steadily since 2007. Study results show a stable incidence trend below 1% for severe perineal trauma over the study period

Cross-sectional study comparing public and private hospitals in Catalonia: is the practice of routine episiotomy changing?

Background. In Spain, the Strategy for Assistance in Normal Childbirth (SANC) promoted a model of care, which respects the physiological birth process and discards unnecessary routine interventions, such as episiotomies. We evaluated the rate of episiotomy use and perineal trauma as indicators of how selective introduction of the SANC initiative has impacted childbirth outcomes in hospitals of Catalonia./nMethods. Cross-sectional study of all singleton vaginal term deliveries without instrument registered in the Minimum Basic Data Set (MBDS) of Catalonia in 2007, 2010 and 2012. Hospitals were divided into types according to funding (public or private), and four strata were differentiated according to volume of births attended./nEpisiotomies and perineal injury were considered dependent variables. The relationship between qualitative variables was analysed using the chi-squared test, and Student’s t-test was used for quantitative variables. Comparison of proportions was performed on the two hospital groups between 2007 and 2012 using a Z-test. Logistic regression models were used to analyse the relationship between episiotomy or severe perineal damage and maternal age, volume of births and hospital type, obtaining odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)./nResults. The majority of normal singleton term deliveries were attended in public hospitals, where maternal age was lower than for women attended in private hospitals. Analysis revealed a statistically significant (P < 0.001) decreasing trend in episiotomy use in Catalonia for both hospital types. Private hospitals appeared to be associated with increased episiotomy rate in 2007 (OR = 1.099, CI: 1,057–1,142), 2010 (OR = 1.528, CI: 1,472–1,587) and 2012 (OR = 1.459, CI: 1,383–1,540), and a lower rate of severe perineal trauma in 2007 (OR = 0.164, CI: 0.095–0.283), 2010 (OR = 0.16, CI: 0.110–0.232) and 2012 (OR = 0.19, CI: 0.107–0.336). Regarding severe perineal injury, when independent variables were adjusted, maternal age ceased to have a significant correlation in 2012 (OR = 0.994, CI: 0.970–1.018)./nConclusions. Episiotomy procedures during normal singleton vaginal term deliveries in Catalonia has decreased steadily since 2007. Study results show a stable incidence trend below 1% for severe perineal trauma over the study period

Assessing the performance of maternity care in Europe: a critical exploration of tools and indicators

Background. This paper critically reviews published tools and indicators currently used to measure maternity care performance within Europe, focusing particularly on whether and how current approaches enable systematic appraisal of processes of minimal (or non-) intervention in support of physiological or “normal birth”. The work formed part of COST Actions IS0907: “Childbirth Cultures, Concerns, and Consequences: Creating a dynamic EU framework for optimal maternity care” (2011-2014) and IS1405: Building Intrapartum Research Through Health - an interdisciplinary whole system approach to understanding and contextualising physiological labour and birth (BIRTH) (2014-). The Actions included the sharing of country experiences with the aim of promoting salutogenic approaches to maternity care./nMethods. A structured literature search was conducted of material published between 2005 and 2013, incorporating research databases, published documents in english in peer-reviewed international journals and indicator databases which measured aspects of health care at a national and pan-national level. Given its emergence from two COST Actions the work, inevitably, focused on Europe, but findings may be relevant to other countries and regions./nResults. A total of 388 indicators were identified, as well as seven tools specifically designed for capturing aspects of maternity care. Intrapartum care was the most frequently measured feature, through the application of process and outcome indicators. Postnatal and neonatal care of mother and baby were the least appraised areas. An over-riding focus on the quantification of technical intervention and adverse or undesirable outcomes was identified. Vaginal birth (no instruments) was occasionally cited as an indicator; besides this measurement few of the 388 indicators were found to be assessing non-intervention or “good” or positive outcomes more generally./nConclusions. The tools and indicators identified largely enable measurement of technical interventions and undesirable health (or pathological medical) outcomes. A physiological birth generally necessitates few, or no, interventions, yet most of the indicators presently applied fail to capture (a) this phenomenon, and (b) the relationship between different forms and processes of care, mode of birth and good or positive outcomes. A need was identified for indicators which capture non-intervention, reflecting the reality that most births are low-risk, requiring few, if any, technical medical procedures

MAMI: a birth cohort focused on maternal-infant microbiota during early life

Early microbial colonization is a relevant aspect in human health. Altered microbial colonization patterns have been linked to an increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Advances in understanding host-microbe interactions highlight the pivotal role of maternal microbiota on infant health programming. This birth cohort is aimed to characterize the maternal microbes transferred to neonates during the first 1000 days of life, as well as to identify the potential host and environmental factors, such as gestational age, mode of delivery, maternal/infant diet, and exposure to antibiotics, which affect early microbial colonization.This study is supported through a five-year grant from European Research Council (ERC) - European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework - with an ERC Starting Grant (ref. 639226). Funding received from this grant supports direct research costs and research assistant salaries. The ERC had no direct role in the design of this study and will not in the collection, analysis or interpreting of data, or manuscript writing