McInnes J

Honan, Bridget

Johnson, Richard

Durup, Cheryl

Venkatesh, Ajay

William Gardiner F

Schultz R

Spring B

2022-11-02

BACKGROUND: Remote Australian women in labour often rely on retrieval services to allow birthing in specialist obstetric centres. However, there is currently debate over when not to transfer a woman in labour, for risk of an in-transit birth, associated with worse neonatal outcomes. METHODS: A scoping review methodology was undertaken, to define the scope of published literature on the topic and identify gaps in the current knowledge. RESULTS: A total of seven full texts were deemed suitable for synthesis, which were all retrospective observational studies. Four themes from the studies' findings were identified: population features, predicting time-to-birth, use of tocolysis and birth during medical evacuation. CONCLUSION: The evidence identified in this review was of low methodological quality and heterogenous. The key findings were that births in-flight are rare, despite geographical distances and long transport times, with a knowledge gap on predictors of time-to-birth.

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia. Electronic address: Jessica.McInnes@flyingdoctor.net.

Central Australian Retrieval Service, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Alice Springs Hospital, Alice Springs, NT, Australia; School of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Australia; Baker Institute, Australia.

Central Australian Retrieval Service, Alice Springs, NT, Australia; Alice Springs Hospital, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.

Central Australian Retrieval Service, Alice Springs, NT, Australia; Alice Springs Hospital, Alice Springs, NT, Australia; School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith University, Southport, QLD, Australia.

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia; University of Western Australia, Australia.

Alice Springs Hospital, Alice Springs, NT, Australia; Edith Cowan University, Australia.

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia; Molly Wardaguga Research Centre, College of Nursing and Midwifery, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia.

Australas Emerg Care . 2023 Jun;26(2):158-163. doi: 10.1016/j.auec.2022.10.002. Epub 2022 Nov 2.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36335020/?otool=iaurydwlib

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/12321

Medical retrieval of pregnant women in labour: A scoping review.

Journal Article

Publication