Hello class,
This week we are talking about maternal and child health. A large part of maternal and child health issues revolve around the processes of pregnancy and birth. As you may already have noticed in the readings or in class, making childbirth safer is a high priority for programs which aim to improve women's health.
It is often the case that women in developing countries do not have access to the latest birthing technologies and as such are in a similar position to women in the past in developed countries vis a vis risk in pregnancy and childbirth.
For today's assignment, I want you to read "The Score" by Atul Gawande (handed out in class 4/15) and then come up with what you feel are the three most significant technological advances in childbirth from prehistory until the present. Feel free to use any outside resources you would like.
Update on malaria project: Shirt screen-printing will take place Friday (4/17) at lunch and after school. Please come if at all possible. Michael, please make sure the shirts are here by then! Also, Friday is the deadline to get me your $16 before it starts affecting your participation grade in this class. If anyone has any concerns about being able to get me the money by then, please feel free to talk to me before Friday.
OH AND PS...please finish the paper mache mosquito before Saturday. I will be happy to help out but we need to get it done and out of the way.
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1. Hand-washing in the nineteenth century and the discovery of antibiotics in the fifties help prevent infection during childbirth, a procedure that a lot of exposure to bacteria through tearing, etc.
ReplyDelete2. Forceps, although seemingly crude today, were crucial for many decades because they ideally overcame difficulties in obstructed labor without compromising the mother's health or killing the newborn.
3. Because the forceps can be inefficient and dangerous when used by non-experts, the C-section has taken its place for the most part as the procedure to use when vaginal birth is obstructed. However, since the C-section is a surgical procedure, it carries with it new risks associated with surgery in addition to the dangers of natural childbirth.
Anna Rut
Sanitation (Cleaner environments for mothers to deliver) - Physicians promoted new ideas for sterile techniques and technology they throughout the hospitals, including newly developed antiseptic and anesthetic procedures.
ReplyDeleteThe C section (Cesarean Section)- For the fact that with forceps, the baby died, though leaving the mother alive, but with the C section, there was a chance in which the baby getting surgically removed could be saved as well as the mother. As the forceps crushes the fetuses' cranium entirely, it also emotionally terrified the mother into thinking twice about risking another life.
Childbirth Simulator- Hospitals investing in this childbirth simulator – known as Noelle – to train physicians, nurses and staff how to deal with routine and complicated pregnancies in a no-pressure situation, so when the real deal comes all of the trained specialists know exactly what their job entails.
I am tempted to write sanitation on my list here. It is undoubtedly necessary, in fact possibly even the single most important aspect of performing a safe, infection-free pregnancy. But I realized I don't consider it an "invention" as such- so I have left it off my list. Also, I'd like to point out that the following inventions are in no particular order of importance by any means.
ReplyDeleteEpidural and spinal anesthesia are used in 75% of births (the New Yorker doesn't specify, but I assume this is only in the United States). These are drugs used to speed up a labor dramatically, encourage contractions and hurry the delivery. Epidural and spinal anesthesia are proven safer forms than regular anesthesia.
Thirty percent of American babies are not delivered by the Cesarean section. In desperate or situations where it is unsafe for the mother to perform a vaginal birth, the C-section is a relatively safe alternative where the obstetrician cuts into first the stomach, and then the uterus of the mother, removing the baby, and stitching the mother back up. A strange idea to anyone not familiar with this operation, but it is widely effective and reliable and so is becoming more common every year.
The prenatal ultrasound is now commonly used to detect potential problems with an unborn fetus. When the obstetrician is able to see how the fetus is doing/positioned within the mother, they can make perform the necessary procedures and make the necessary arrangements to ensure a safe birth for mother and child.
It was difficult to chose only three of the many remarkable and useful invention I read about... so many of them we as American women cannot imagine giving birth without at least having the option of.
·Greater understanding of germs and sanitation. Doctors used to go from delivery to delivery without washing their hands. Until the nineteenth century, this caused an untold number of women to die due to infection. Even today, mothers that don’t deliver within 24 hours after their water breaks have a 40% of getting an infection; without antibiotics, these women would be at a huge risk.
ReplyDelete·The C-section surgery. Once deemed criminal due to the danger it posed to the mother, the C-section has in recent times become an easy and relatively safe way for women to deliver. A related innovation is the development of anesthesia and antisepsis in the nineteenth century, vastly improving maternal outcomes and making the Cesarean section practical.
·The Apgar score. Named for its creator, Virginia Apgar, the 0-10 scale is a way for doctors and nurses to rate the health condition of newborn babies. As the system became universal, doctors were able to compare health outcomes of babies and thus compare the success of different birthing techniques. For instance, doctors found that localized anesthesia produced better Apgar scores then general anesthesia. It also became apparent that in many cases, babies that appeared unhealthy at birth could quickly become healthier.
The C- Section- The C-Section has taken many of the complications of birth and given in a one way fix. Where as before a very skilled doctor was needed to correctly use forceps and turn a baby out of all kinds of bad positions, now every doctor learns one method. This method is becoming more and more effective and could soon become the new way to deliver babies.
ReplyDeleteGreater Knowledge of Sanitation- Knowledge of sanitation turned hospitals into a breeding ground for infection into a positive place where lives could be saved.
Antibiotics- Antibiotics has allowed humans to recover from all types of infections. This breakthrough in medicine has given doctors the cure to multiple diseases and has greatly helped the life expectancy of mothers and children.
1. Electronic Fetal – Heart Monitoring helps to keep you in contact with your baby. It lets you know the heart rate of your baby, which helps you plan for a safe and easy delivery.
ReplyDelete2. Education has improved childbirth because it helps to keep everybody informed in what exactly is going on and how you can provide a safe environment for your newborn baby. Without education parents would not be able to prepare for their child or how to care for it responsibly. Child birthing classes help you to know what to expect during childbirth and how to keep your self calm and safe which will then help your baby.
3. Ultrasounds help doctors to know what to except during child birth and will help them prepare for any complications that might come about. If there is something wrong with the child that can be seen from the ultra sound the doctor will be able to prepare so that both the mother and baby will be safe. Ultra sounds also help with finding out the abdominal circumference, excessive or decreased amount of amniotic fluid, and diagnosis of uterine and pelvic abnormalities.
Olivia, we may have to go without the paper mache Mosquito this Saturday. This week has been insanely busy so far (I hadn't forgotten) and unfortunately I leave for the airport at noon Tomorrow. If anyone chooses to work on it, I would suggest coat hangers or some sort of wire coud be used in place of legs. Also, wire bent into a general wing shape with some sort of thread (maybe fishing string) strung criscross across it might be cool for the wings. As for paint, a solid black with maybe some color for the eyes or like abdominol bands or something simple is all that is needed.
ReplyDeleteAs for my blog post:
The institution of strict regulations following the 1930s surveys. This resulted in doctors and hospitols being held accountable for malpractice and poor practices.
The implementation of the Apgar score led to the rapid shift toward reliable practices by the doctors themselves in order to uphold their reputations and pride.
The advancement of practices involved in a successful c-section. C-sections boost the success rate of risky pregnancies significantly and is equally as important as the development of the apgar score.
Infection significantly added to the number of mother/child deaths in or directly after childbirth before sanitation practices were realized as important and tightened up. Before much could be done on a surgical front, with limited technology and premature understanding, simply wearing and changing gloves and keeping sterile equipment decreased the number of lives taken drastically.
ReplyDeleteAntibiotics were a further invention of sorts, again playing a huge role in the success of a healthy delivery. Even in modern settings, the chances of the child or mother contracting an infection once the amniotic fluid has broken is very high, and antibiotics prove a powerful tool against so devastating a complication.
The invention of the forcep and later the cesarean section have changed the face of childbirth incredibly. Obstructed labors and abnormalities are much easier to accommodate with the use of tools that do not compromise the life of mothers or their newborns.