Midwifery and Nursing Strategies to protect against COVID-19 During the Third Trimester of Pregnancy.
Juan Liu, Yuming Cao, Cheng Xu and 6 others
PMID 33220602WHAT IT FOUND
Thirty-five third-trimester pregnant women with COVID-19 received many simultaneous infection-control, monitoring, respiratory, breastfeeding, psychological, and postpartum measures.
The series reported no severe maternal complications and normal infant Apgar scores, but cannot show which measures mattered.
Key findings
01Thirty-five women were admitted; sixteen had no clinical manifestations and all had abnormal lung CT results.
02All 35 women gave birth with no complications or nosocomial infections, and none progressed to severe disease.
03All infants had normal Apgar scores; eight of 35 babies did not receive viral nucleic acid testing, and all test results were negative except one suspected case that retested negative.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study reports 35 women from one hospital, so the results are small and may not apply to other settings. It had no comparison group, so favorable outcomes cannot be attributed to the midwifery and nursing strategies. The women received many simultaneous measures, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The series was limited to third-trimester pregnancy, so it may not apply to first or second trimester. Eight of 35 babies did not receive viral nucleic acid testing because parents did not give permission, so neonatal infection status is incomplete. The paper is retrospective and describes care protocols and outcomes rather than testing an intervention.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that infection-control, monitoring, respiratory care, breastfeeding support, psychological care, or postpartum checks prevented severe disease or hospital-acquired infection. The paper reports outcomes in 35 women without a comparison group, and all received many measures together, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.