Summary:
The Labour Ward Handbook, second edition, is a succinct manual that provides detailed clinical practice guidelines for the care of women in labour. Dealing more with the practice than the theory of labour ward management, this book is designed to be a ready guide for use in the delivery suite by the busy clinician.

The format has been specifically designed to make retrieval of information quick and simple. Relevant pages can be reproduced and filed in the patient’s case-notes ? thus serving not only as an aide memoire and checklist, but also as a supplementary record of the care provided.

The Labour Ward Handbook is essential reading for practicing obstetricians of all grades, midwives, labour ward managers, and all other medical professionals who are interested in the conduct of labour and risk management in the delivery suite.

• Checklists and bullet points for quick and straightforward guidance

• 'Further reading' at the end of each section

• Compliant with RCOG and NICE guidelines

• Builds on a very popular first edition

• If you work on the labour ward, this is the book to have with you at all times

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Professor Philip J Steer, Emeritus Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Imperial College London
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Glossary
Bleep/crash calls
PART I: Approach to care
1. Communication
2. Documentation
3. Admission to, and discharge home from, the delivery suite
4. Learning from clinical incidents
5. Transfer of care between professionals
6. Reviewing what happened
Further reading for Part I
PART II: Normal and low-risk labour
7. Vaginal examination
8. Intravenous cannulation
9. Management of normal labour
10. Prelabour rupture of membranes at term (37–42 weeks)
11. Management of the first stage of labour
12. Fetal monitoring
13. Fetal scalp blood sampling
14. Augmentation of labour
15. Cord-blood sampling
16. Epidural analgesia in labour
17. Management of the second stage of labour
18. Criteria for paediatric attendance at delivery
19. Management of the third stage of labour
20. Immediate postpartum care
21. Care of the newborn
22. Meconium-stained amniotic fluid
23. Neonatal resuscitation
24. Babies born before arrival at hospital
25. Episiotomy
26. The woman with a history of childhood sexual abuse
27. Use of birthing pool
Further reading for Part II
PART III: Abnormal and high-risk labour
SECTION 1: Powers, passenger, passage
28. Caesarean section
29. Recovery of obstetric patients
30. High-dependency care
31. Failed intubation drill
32. Instrumental delivery
33. Trial of vaginal delivery after a previous caesarean section
34. Induction of labour
35. Antenatal corticosteroid therapy
36. Preterm prelabour rupture of membranes
37. Preterm uterine contractions
38. Deliveries at the lower margin of viability
39. Multiple pregnancy
40. Abnormal lie in labour
41. Occipitoposterior position
42. Malpresentation
43. Breech presentation
44. External cephalic version
45. The woman with genital mutilation
46. The obese woman in labour
47. Perineal tear
SECTION 2: Medical conditions
48. Heart disease in labour
49. Peripartum cardiomyopathy
50. Pre-eclampsia
51. Eclampsia
52. Diabetes mellitus
53. Asthma (acute exacerbation in labour)
54. Epilepsy
55. Systemic lupus erythematosus
56. Other connective tissue disorders
SECTION 3: Haemorrhage and haematological disorders
57. The rhesus-negative woman
58. Thromboembolism prophylaxis
59. Acute venous thromboembolism and pulmonary embolism
60. Major haemoglobinopathy
61. Inherited coagulation disorders: haemophilia and von Willebrand’s disease
62. Immune thrombocytopenic purpura
63. Thrombophilia
64. Gestational thrombocytopenia
65. Antepartum haemorrhage
66. Major placenta praevia
67. Retained placenta
68. Postpartum haemorrhage
69. Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy
70. Delivery of the woman at known risk of haemorrhage
71. Management of the woman who declines blood transfusion
SECTION 4: Infection
72. Prophylactic antibiotics
73. Intrapartum pyrexia
74. Hepatitis B and C
75. Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis for group B streptococci
76. Genital herpes
77. Human immunodeficiency virus
SECTION 5: Other obstetric emergencies
78. Cervical tear and paravaginal haematoma
79. Rupture of the uterus
80. Shoulder dystocia
81. Cord prolapse
82. Anaphylaxis
83. Inverted uterus
84. Amniotic fluid embolism
85. Sudden maternal collapse
86. Latex allergy
SECTION 6: Stillbirths and congenital abnormalities
87. Checklist for fetal loss at 13–23 weeks
88. Intrauterine fetal demise
89. Mid-trimester termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality
90. Protocol for medical termination of mid-trimester pregnancy
Further reading for Part III
Appendices
Appendix A: Guidance for obtaining consent to treatment
Appendix B: Standards for administering blood transfusion
Index

About the Author(s):
Leroy C Edozien LLB BSc MSc MPhil MRCPI FRCOG FWACS
Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester, UK; Honorary Senior Lecturer, Maternal and Fetal Health Research Group, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Clinical Lead, North West Perinatal Survey Unit, Manchester, UK

Readership:
Practicing obstetricians and midwives, labour ward managers

Reviews: