What Are the Advantages of Prenatal Care?

One of the reasons that there is quite a low perinatal mortality rate in the USA and Europe is the prenatal care (or antental care) given to the expectant mother, and the specialist help supplied, by the following people:

• Family doctor (GP) The family doctor is usually the first person to be consulted if a woman thinks she is pregnant. It is quite possible that the doctor will be part of a group practice at a health centre. He or she may be a GPO (general practitioner obstetrician), i.e., a family doctor who specialises in care of pregnant women and children. Some GPs run their own antenatal clinics; otherwise they may refer the expectant mother to a hospital or local antenatal clinic. In any case the doctor will give general care and advice during the pregnancy.

• Health visitor The health visitor is a RGN (registered general nurse) with at least three months' midwifery experience who has attended a one-year technical college course. She or he does in fact look after the whole community, and is usually attached to a health centre, a general practice or a local welfare clinic. She or he may also work as a district nurse, providing nursing at home for people who need it. The health visitor may run the antenatal clinic and the child welfare clinic, and usually gets to know families very well.

• Community midwife The midwife is a RGN who has taken the added qualification of SCM (state certified midwife). She or he is qualified to look after the expectant mother, to deliver the baby either at home or in hospital, to give drugs if needed, and to care for mother and baby when they leave hospital. If the midwife is at all anxious, or any problems arise, she or he will?always call in a specialist. The midwife is in charge of the care of mother and child until ten days after the delivery, when the responsibility becomes that 14 of the health visitor.

?• Obstetrician The obstetrician is a doctor who specialises in looking after women during pregnancy (the prenatal care stage) and birth. The expectant mother will receive a check-up from the obstetrician when her pregnancy is confirmed, and she will be examined at intervals throughout and at the end of her pregnancy to make sure there are no complications. The obstetrician will make the necessary decisions if any difficulties arise, such as the need for a Caesarean section 104). A midwife or doctor carrying out a home delivery can call upon emergency services if there is any difficulty.

• Gynaecologist The same doctor may be both a consultant obstetrician and a gynaecologist. The gynaecologist co-operates closely with the obstetrician, as he or she is qualified and specialises in the treatment of women's diseases and reproductive disorders.

• Paediatrician The paediatrician specialises in the treatment of children up to their early teens. He or she may be attached to a maternity unit and will examine the newborn babies for defects. The paediatrician also acts in a consultant capacity in child health centres, hospitals, schools, etc.

• Neonatologist The neonatologist is a doctor who specialises in the care of the newborn baby and is usually a paediatrician.

• Social worker The expectant mother may have problems which are not simply medical, such as finance, housing, a broken marriage, or psychological problems. In this case she can discuss her problems with a social worker; sometimes there is one attached to the health centre.