Making good care essential: The impact of increased obstetric interventions and decreased services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kathleen F Rice, Sarah A Williams
PMID 34774446WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant and birthing people in Canada described pandemic maternity care as less hands-on and more intervention-heavy: virtual prenatal visits pushed monitoring onto them, hospital restrictions removed support, and fear of being alone prompted inductions or caesareans.
Key findings
01Most prenatal care appointments took place virtually, shifting routine monitoring such as weight gain and fetal growth to the patient.
02Postpartum hospital care was described as reduced or inadequate, and some participants said they were left alone after birth partners had to leave.
03Some participants chose inductions or caesareans because pandemic restrictions made them fear giving birth or recovering without their partner.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
This is a qualitative study of experiences, not a test of whether pandemic policies changed clinical outcomes. Participants were recruited through social media, so they may not represent all pregnant people in Canada. All respondents were cisgender women, despite recruitment wording intended to include trans and non-binary people. Healthcare providers were not interviewed, so the study cannot confirm why interventions were offered. Member checking was limited to six participants, and the authors note the results are not necessarily generalizable.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were declared. The study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through their Canada Research Chairs Program.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these accounts as evidence that pandemic policies caused worse birth outcomes or that every induction or caesarean was unnecessary. The study reports experiences, not clinical outcomes or a tested intervention.