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Soins maternels intensifs (Maternal Intensive Care) en Belgique - KCE

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<strong>KCE</strong> Reports 94 <strong>Maternal</strong> <strong>Int<strong>en</strong>sive</strong> <strong>Care</strong> in Belgium 63<br />

This guideline specifies managem<strong>en</strong>t/treatm<strong>en</strong>t of pregnant wom<strong>en</strong> with heart and<br />

vascular diseases (hypert<strong>en</strong>sion, heart disease), thrombotic complications, metabolic<br />

disorders (diabetes, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, obesity), neurological diseases<br />

(epilepsy, migraine, disturbances of cerebral circulation), r<strong>en</strong>al diseases, rheumatic<br />

disorders, psychiatric problems, bronchial asthma, cancer.<br />

An important limitation of this valuable tool (and most other guidelines) was the lack of<br />

recomm<strong>en</strong>dations on the appropriate level of care for each pathology. No literature or<br />

guidelines where found that specifically m<strong>en</strong>tioned on which level of care wom<strong>en</strong> with<br />

certain (combination of) pathology(ies) should be admitted.<br />

5.2.2 Construction of the theoretical list of indications<br />

The ext<strong>en</strong>sive search for guidelines and evid<strong>en</strong>ce concerning obstetric intermediate care<br />

retrieved a few guidelines and articles of low accuracy. Therefore the construction of<br />

the list of indications had to be based on a clinically designed list of indications for<br />

admission on the MIC-service. Two resid<strong>en</strong>t obstetricians 48 , active within an academic<br />

tertiary setting, devised a clinical list as an answer to the daily problem of id<strong>en</strong>tifying<br />

MIC-pati<strong>en</strong>ts. The list was divided into two groups, pregnancy related pathology and<br />

not-pregnancy related pathology.<br />

The rough structure of this list (organised by anatomical structures) served as a starting<br />

point and gradually more detailed information concerning the differ<strong>en</strong>t pregnancy and<br />

not pregnancy related pathology was added. As m<strong>en</strong>tioned above, guidelines concerning<br />

specific complications of pregnancy were relatively easy to find. Per problem cited in the<br />

clinical list, the Dutch and Anglo-Saxon search <strong>en</strong>gines, were systematically explored for<br />

relevant evid<strong>en</strong>ce based guidelines. Where evid<strong>en</strong>ce based guidelines were found,<br />

information on specific problems was included. With the help of 2 gynaecologists and 1<br />

epidemiologist proposals for indications for intermediate care admission, the disease<br />

classification types and risk stratification were formulated.<br />

Subsequ<strong>en</strong>tly an int<strong>en</strong>sive process of internal validation using the Delphi-method was<br />

started. During the first phase (writt<strong>en</strong> phase) the list was s<strong>en</strong>t by email to all sev<strong>en</strong><br />

members of the research-group who were asked to s<strong>en</strong>d their writt<strong>en</strong> feedback to the<br />

coordinator. All feedback and comm<strong>en</strong>ts were gathered, discussed and added to the list.<br />

In a second phase these writt<strong>en</strong> comm<strong>en</strong>ts were discussed during a meeting. After the<br />

meeting the adaptations were made and s<strong>en</strong>t back for additional feedback and approval<br />

to the research-partners. The list evoked a lot of discussion and this process had to be<br />

repeated four times to obtain cons<strong>en</strong>sus. The cons<strong>en</strong>sus-list was divided into three<br />

groups: not pregnancy related pathology, pregnancy related pathology and foetal<br />

pathology. The not pregnancy related pathology was grouped into <strong>en</strong>docrinologic,<br />

nephrologic, cardio-vascular, thrombotic, infectious, pulmonary, autoimmune,<br />

connective tissues, skeletal, neuromuscular, haematologic, oncologic, socio-economic,<br />

trauma, psychiatric, uro-g<strong>en</strong>ital and gastro-intestinal disorders. The pregnancy related<br />

pathology was grouped into pregnancy interruption, intra-uterine death, PPROM,<br />

preterm birth, IUGR (Intra Uterine Growth Retardation), immunisation, multiple<br />

pregnancies, hypert<strong>en</strong>sion, thromboembolism, haemorrhage and miscellaneous<br />

disorders. The foetal pathology was not stratified into differ<strong>en</strong>t subgroups.<br />

The initial purpose of this list was to group woman (and their foetuses) suffering from a<br />

specific pathology (pregnancy or not-pregnancy related) and attribute them the level of<br />

care (standard, intermediate and int<strong>en</strong>sive care) they ideally need. Later on, it became<br />

clear that the admission criteria for int<strong>en</strong>sive care were clear-cut (see definition in<br />

literature review), but the criteria for admission to standard and intermediate care were<br />

very unclear.<br />

Therefore we decided to create three levels of care (standard care, ‘grey zone’ and<br />

intermediate care). The addition of the category ‘grey zone’ was made to increase the<br />

clinical applicability of the list of indications.<br />

48 Dr. Kristi<strong>en</strong> Roel<strong>en</strong>s and dr. Ell<strong>en</strong> Roets, the G<strong>en</strong>t University Hospital

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