Making sense of the CF screening guidelines
October 1st 2004The latest official guidelines on cystic fibrosis screening have some clinicians bewildered--and others looking for an easy way to put them to good use. A top expert in the field provides practical advice on how to individualize the recommendations.
Offering breastfeeding mothers advice on contraception
Ob/gyns should ensure that women have the information they need to make an informed decision about breastfeeding. This article addresses the two key concerns that new mothers most express about contraception and breastfeeding.
Editorial: Why the CD rate is on the rise (Part 1)
October 1st 2004Ob/gyns with even a little gray hair have witnessed an extraordinary evolution in our collective thinking about cesarean delivery (CD) over the past three decades. I believe that a variety of factors are behind high CD rates in the United States, and that continued increases are inevitable.
U/S Clinics: Diagnosing and managing mild fetal cerebral ventriculomegaly
September 1st 2004Thanks to advances in U/S technology, clinicians can now detect ventricular enlargement in its earliest stages. Unfortunately, a few fetuses with borderline ventriculomegaly still have chromosomal or structural malformations.
Our Generation: Residency versus the real world of ob/gyn
September 1st 2004No one prepares you for the stresses of day-to-day practice--like keeping increasingly Internet-savvy and demanding patients satisfied--that take multitasking to a whole new level. Let's mentor residents and newcomers so they don't repeat our mistakes. It could help preserve our specialty.
Preventing perineal lacerations during labor
September 1st 2004Using a technique called super crowning, avoiding episiotomy, and reaching for a vacuum device rather than forceps during operative vaginal deliveries are among the strategies that can help reduce the number of third- and fourth-degree lacerations.
Editorial: Expert medical courts: An idea whose time has come
September 1st 2004We may have seen the first glimmer of light in the otherwise dark tunnel of the professional liability insurance crisis. On July 12, during a speech at the National Press Club, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist proposed "an expert medical court system with transparent decisions, limits on punitive damages, and scheduled compensatory damages to provide rapid relief to truly injured patients (instead of trial lawyers)" while holding negligent doctors accountable.
Editorial: John Edwards: The wrong prescription for ob/gyns!!
August 1st 2004Ending months of speculation, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has picked Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) as his running mate. Kerry's choice offers insights into his administration's likely health-care priorities. And unfortunately for ob/gyns, it also raises profound concerns about the prospects for federal tort reform during a Kerry-Edwards administration.
Ectopic pregnancy: Prompt diagnosis spells effective treatment
August 1st 2004Skillful interpretation of ultrasound images, hCG values, and patients' signs and symptoms can help identify ectopics early on. Once the diagnosis is made, salpingectomy, salpingostomy, and methotrexate are your therapeutic options.