Adapting obstetric and neonatal services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review

• Published in: BMC pregnancy and childbirth Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 119 - 16
• Main Authors: Gold, Shira, Clarfield, Lauren, Johnstone, Jennie, Diambomba, Yenge, Shah, Prakesh S., Whittle, Wendy, Abbasi, Nimrah, Arzola, Cristian, Ashraf, Rizwana, Biringer, Anne, Chitayat, David, Czikk, Marie, Forte, Milena, Franklin, Tracy, Jacobson, Michelle, Keunen, Johannes, Kingdom, John, Lapinsky, Stephen, MacKenzie, Joanne, Maxwell, Cynthia, Preisman, Mary, Ryan, Greg, Selk, Amanda, Sermer, Mathew, Silversides, Candice, Snelgrove, John, Watts, Nancy, Young, Beverly, De Castro, Charmaine, D’Souza, Rohan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central 11.02.2022; BMC
• Subjects: Academic Medical Centers; Canada; Communicable Disease Control - organization & administration; Coronavirus; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 - therapy; Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration; Disease transmission; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infectious diseases; Inpatients; Maternal-Child Health Services - organization & administration; Medical students; Neonatal care; Newborn babies; Obstetrics; Organizational Policy; Outpatients; Pandemics; Perinatal Care; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - prevention & control; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - therapy; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2; Teams; Workforce planning; Canada; Quality improvement; Pandemics; Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2; Neonatology; Simulation training; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Hospital restructuring; Perinatal care; Patient care planning; Ultrasonography; Medical education; Hospital planning; Maternity; Obstetrical; Obstetrics; Perinatology; Postnatal care; Anaesthesia; Pregnancy; Algorithms; Coronavirus; Residency training; Medical staff; Personnel management; Clinical protocols; Health planning guidelines; Ambulatory care
• ISSN: 1471-2393; 1471-2393
• DOI: 10.1186/s12884-022-04409-4

The provision of care to pregnant persons and neonates must continue through pandemics. To maintain quality of care, while minimizing physical contact during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2) pandemic, hospitals and international organizations issued recommendations on maternity and neonatal care delivery and restructuring of clinical and academic services. Early in the pandemic, recommendations relied on expert opinion, and offered a one-size-fits-all set of guidelines. Our aim was to examine these recommendations and provide the rationale and context to guide clinicians, administrators, educators, and researchers, on how to adapt maternity and neonatal services during the pandemic, regardless of jurisdiction. Our initial database search used Medical subject headings and free-text search terms related to coronavirus infections, pregnancy and neonatology, and summarized relevant recommendations from international society guidelines. Subsequent targeted searches to December 30, 2020, included relevant publications in general medical and obstetric journals, and updated society recommendations. We identified 846 titles and abstracts, of which 105 English-language publications fulfilled eligibility criteria and were included in our study. A multidisciplinary team representing clinicians from various disciplines, academics, administrators and training program directors critically appraised the literature to collate recommendations by multiple jurisdictions, including a quaternary care Canadian hospital, to provide context and rationale for viable options. There are different schools of thought regarding effective practices in obstetric and neonatal services. Our critical review presents the rationale to effectively modify services, based on the phase of the pandemic, the prevalence of infection in the population, and resource availability.