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Family Medicine pp 106–113Cite as

Problems During Labor and Delivery

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Abstract

Family physicians must be well prepared to anticipate and respond to problems that can arise during labor and delivery. Most pregnancies end with a healthy infant, particularly if there are few or no unnecessary interventions. As an example, the widespread use of continuous electronic fetal monitoring since the 1970s not only did not improve neonatal morbidity and mortality outcomes, it increased cesarean section rates in the United States.1 This chapter explores common intrapartum complications in such a manner as to sharpen family practitioners’ clinical skills to more accurately know when and how to intervene with a given complication. The corollary to this approach is that practitioners will further develop the ability to know when “watchful waiting” is indicated because of an improved ability to assess and improve the health of the mother and fetus.

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Authors
  1. Stephen D. Ratcliffe
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, School of Medicine, Portland, 97201, OR, USA

    Robert B. Taylor M.D. (Professor and Chairman) (Professor and Chairman)

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Ratcliffe, S.D. (1994). Problems During Labor and Delivery. In: Taylor, R.B. (eds) Family Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4005-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4005-9_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-4007-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-4005-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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