Article Text
PDF
Statistics from Altmetric.com
What you want or what you're given
One of the disadvantages of guidelines is that where there is a list of bullet points, people tend to follow them, especially if they come from NICE. So it is with Preterm Labour and Birth (NG25) and its recommendations for information and support for mothers at high risk of preterm labour or delivery. Unsurprisingly, a one-size-fits-all approach is not actually what women want. Gaucher et al (J Pediatr 2016;178:130–134.e7) surveyed 229 Canadian women, mostly white, mostly francophone, but all at high risk of preterm labour or delivery, in Montreal. They reported that what these women wanted, but tended not to get, was a personalised approach that responded to their individual questions and concerns. Medical, nursing and midwifery staff often mistake covering all the issues in their mental list for being ‘good communication’ so long as it is done sensitively. What this study emphasises is that good communication actually begins with listening to the issues that are important to the person in front of us and addressing these, rather than assuming we somehow already know what will matter most to parents.
HFNC versus CPAP as initial therapy
Since high …