Outline of obstetrics

What is obstetrics?

Obstetrics can be described as all of the following:

• Medicine – medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness in human beings.
  • Medical specialty – branch of medical science. After completing medical school, physicians or surgeons usually further their medical education in a specific specialty of medicine by completing a multiple year residency to become a medical specialist.
• Academic discipline – In addition to being a medical specialty, obstetrics is the study of the reproductive process within the female body, including fertilization, pregnancy and childbirth.

History of obstetrics

• Childbirth and obstetrics in antiquity

Medical history

• Gravidity and parity

Pregnancy and childbirth

• Pregnancy
• Childbirth

Family planning

• Family planning
  • Birth control
    • Contraception
  • Pre-conception counseling

Female reproductive anatomy

• Amniotic fluid
• Amniotic sac
  • Amnion
• Cervix
• Endometrium
• Fallopian tube
• Ovaries
• Pelvis
  • Pelvic bone width
• Placenta
• Uterus – Also called a womb.
• Vagina

Conception

• Human fertilization
  • Assisted reproductive technology
    • Artificial insemination
    • Fertility medication
    • In vitro fertilisation
  • Fertility awareness
  • Unintended pregnancy

Testing

• Pregnancy test
• 3D ultrasound
• Home testing
• Obstetric ultrasonography
• Prenatal testing

Prenatal stage

Prenatal development

• Prenatal development
  • Fundal height
  • Gestational age
  • Human embryogenesis
  • Maternal physiological changes

Prenatal care

• Prenatal care – regular medical and nursing care recommended for women during pregnancy. Also known as antenatal care.
  • Prenatal nutrition
    • Maternal nutrition
    • Nutrition and pregnancy
  • Concomitant conditions
    • Diabetes mellitus and pregnancy
    • Systemic lupus erythematosus and pregnancy

Prenatal monitoring

• Amniocentesis
• Chorionic villus sampling
• Cardiotocography
• Nonstress test

Childbirth

• Childbirth

Preparation for childbirth

• Adaptation to extrauterine life
• Bradley method of natural childbirth
• Hypnobirthing
• Lamaze technique
• Nesting instinct

Roles during childbirth

• Doula
• Midwife
• Mother – a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that united with a sperm which grew into a child. During childbirth, she is the patient.
• Perinatal nursing
• Men's role in childbirth
• Obstetrician

Delivery

• Pelvimetry
  • Bishop score
  • Cervical dilation
  • Cervical effacement
  • Position
• Home birth
  • Multiple birth
  • Natural childbirth
  • Unassisted childbirth
  • Water birth
• Aspects and conditions
  • Bloody show
  • Childbirth positions
  • Contraction
  • Presentation
    • Breech birth
    • Cephalic presentation
    • Shoulder presentation
    • Rupture of membranes

Postpartum issues

• Postpartum
  • Child care
    • Breastfeeding
  • Congenital disorders
  • Sex after pregnancy

Complications of pregnancy and childbirth

• Complications of pregnancy ( list)
  • abortion
  • abruption
  • breech birth
  • cephalo-pelvic disproportion
  • caesarean section, cesarean section, C-section
  • dermatoses of pregnancy specific skin conditions during pregnancy
  • diabetes
  • eclampsia
  • ectopic pregnancy
  • epilepsy and pregnancy
  • gestational diabetes
  • Group B Streptococcus infection
  • HELLP syndrome
  • hypertension
  • hysterectomy
  • Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR)
  • macrosomia (big baby)
  • malpractice
  • miscarriage or stillbirth
  • obstetric fistula
  • obstetric hemorrhage
  • Pelvic girdle pain
  • placenta praevia
  • pre-eclampsia
  • premature birth, preterm labor or prematurity
  • small for gestational age (SGA)
  • uterine rupture
  • uterine incarceration

Obstetrics organizations

• American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists
• American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• British Pregnancy Advisory Service
• British Society of Urogynaecologists
• European Society of Gynaecological Oncology
• FOGSI
• Gynecologic Oncology Group
• Ipas (organization)
• Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan
• Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada
• World Endometriosis Research Foundation

Obstetrics publications

• Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica
• African Journal of Reproductive Health
• American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Climacteric (journal)
• The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care
• Gynecological Endocrinology
• Human Fertility (Cambridge)
• Human Reproduction (journal)
• Hypertension in Pregnancy
• International Journal of Fertility
• Journal of Human Reproductive Sciences
• Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine
• Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Menopause (journal)
• Obstetrics & Gynecology (journal)
• Placenta (journal)
• Reproduction (journal)
• Reproductive Sciences
• Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine
• Women & Health

Persons influential in obstetrics

• Edward Kowalski

References