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Research: COVID-19 and Maternity Practice

28 May 2020
Dr Keelin O'Donoghue: Research on COVID-19 and Maternity Practice

Dr Keelin O’Donoghue, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and Senior Lecturer, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology is a key contributor to a number of national and international resources in relation to COVID-19 and maternity practice.

Dr O’Donoghue is one of three researchers who have created and are curating the BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology COVID-19 Resource Centre.  The team are collecting useful and credible links to selected guidelines, registries, primary sources, systematic reviews and websites.

Visit the The BJOG COVID-19 Resource Centre

The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (IOG), the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), the National Women and Infant’s Health Programme (NWIHP) and the HSE issued guidance on COVID-19 and maternity services in early April 2020.  Dr Keelin O’Donoghue is lead author for the IOG/RCPI and HSE/NWIHP on this new clinical guidance on COVID-19 in pregnancy. 

Dr O‘Donoghue worked with Joye McKernan (NPEC, UCC, Cork) to lead a national group of contributors including midwifery, chaplaincy and medical colleagues from CUMH and CUH, as well as contributors from the Rotunda Hospital and the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital.

This guidance document for maternity services outlines considerations for care for pregnant women and their infants during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides advice for maternity units around the provision of safe care to women and infants with suspected / confirmed COVID-19. Since its initial publication it has been updated four times and is published on many national websites, being widely endorsed by professional colleges and health services bodies.

This guidance document aims to:

  • To outline considerations for care for pregnant women and their infants during the COVD-19 pandemic
  • To advise maternity units around the provision of safe care to women and infants with suspected / confirmed COVID-19
  • To support healthcare staff working in the maternity services
  • To set out a framework for managing the impact on maternity services
  • To provide principles to help units develop their own response plans

This document is available on the RCPI website and is updated as new information and evidence emerges.

 

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

An Roinn Obstatraice agus Gínéiceolaíochta

Cork University Maternity Hospital, 5th Floor, Wilton, Cork, Ireland

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