Providing useful medical information to women
There are five brochures about HIV in my local medical centre. Every year around 200 people in NZ will be diagnosed with HIV.
There are no brochures about miscarriage in my local medical centre. Every year around 20,000 women in NZ will experience miscarriage.
When I saw the brochure stand at my local medical centre I got really mad. It's great that there are brochures available on HIV, pregnancy, prostate checks and all sorts of other things. But where are the brochures about miscarriage? Miscarriage occurs in one in four or one in three pregnancies (depending who you believe)... why is something so common so unacknowledged by the health industry?
When it comes to miscarriage there are a lot of variables. It can happen early and relatively physically easily. It can happen later and be very painful. The body might do everything perfectly or it might need medical or surgical intervention. There's a lot to consider, but it's hard to get all the information you need.
You might be under the care of a GP, a midwife, a fertility specialist - or no one at all. I think this is why there's a gap in the information about miscarriage. Everyone thinks that someone else is providing the information, but no one really is.
In my case I had a 'missed miscarriage'. I had to figure out whether to go medical, surgical, or just wait for things to happen. I had a great consultation at my local hospital, but if I hadn't already found the information I needed (on an American missed miscarriage forum) I wouldn't have known which option to choose. (I'm sure I'm not the only woman who's spent her miscarriage consultation crying and hasn't really been in a state to take talk or ask questions.)
After the operation I experienced all this weird stuff and I still have no idea if any of it was normal or not. I got a brochure from my hospital but it was pretty light on detail. Interestingly, I got hold of a miscarriage brochure from another District Health Board (DHB) and it offered conflicting advice!
In my view, comprehensive information about miscarriage needs to be available to women in a 'self-service' kind of way. If a woman starts miscarrying, she should be able to jump online or consult her pregnancy book to find out what to do. If she has a missed miscarriage, she should be able to read through and consider the pros and cons of the three management options. If she has a different kind of miscarriage, she should be able to get more information about what is happening to her body and what her options are. Another option would be for a midwife to visit a woman after she's had a miscarriage (or when she's planning her management options) to offer advice. Wouldn't that be nice!
I have talked to midwives, my general practitioner (GP) and a fertility treatment centre doctor, and, no one seems particularly interested in filling this information gap. I hope I will be able to help change that. If you want to be part of that change, talk to your local GP / midwife / fertility clinic and try to get them interested. (I hope you have more luck than I did. My GP looked at me as though I was speaking Double Dutch.) Everyone who is a Lead Maternity Carer has a responsibility to help make maternity information, including miscarriage information, more accessible.
I have contacted the Ministry of Health for advice and I have also laid a complaint via the Health and Disability Commission. Because of the way the system is set up I couldn't complain about a lack of information, I could only complain about a bad service. So unfortunately I had to complain about my local hospital (who actually gave me excellent care, just perhaps not enough information - but are they really responsible for giving me information, or is that something the Ministry of Health should be covering? Time will tell).
I'll keep you updated as and when I hear back from the Ministry of Health and the Health and Disability Commission. Keep an eye on my blog for updates.
There are no brochures about miscarriage in my local medical centre. Every year around 20,000 women in NZ will experience miscarriage.
When I saw the brochure stand at my local medical centre I got really mad. It's great that there are brochures available on HIV, pregnancy, prostate checks and all sorts of other things. But where are the brochures about miscarriage? Miscarriage occurs in one in four or one in three pregnancies (depending who you believe)... why is something so common so unacknowledged by the health industry?
When it comes to miscarriage there are a lot of variables. It can happen early and relatively physically easily. It can happen later and be very painful. The body might do everything perfectly or it might need medical or surgical intervention. There's a lot to consider, but it's hard to get all the information you need.
You might be under the care of a GP, a midwife, a fertility specialist - or no one at all. I think this is why there's a gap in the information about miscarriage. Everyone thinks that someone else is providing the information, but no one really is.
In my case I had a 'missed miscarriage'. I had to figure out whether to go medical, surgical, or just wait for things to happen. I had a great consultation at my local hospital, but if I hadn't already found the information I needed (on an American missed miscarriage forum) I wouldn't have known which option to choose. (I'm sure I'm not the only woman who's spent her miscarriage consultation crying and hasn't really been in a state to take talk or ask questions.)
After the operation I experienced all this weird stuff and I still have no idea if any of it was normal or not. I got a brochure from my hospital but it was pretty light on detail. Interestingly, I got hold of a miscarriage brochure from another District Health Board (DHB) and it offered conflicting advice!
In my view, comprehensive information about miscarriage needs to be available to women in a 'self-service' kind of way. If a woman starts miscarrying, she should be able to jump online or consult her pregnancy book to find out what to do. If she has a missed miscarriage, she should be able to read through and consider the pros and cons of the three management options. If she has a different kind of miscarriage, she should be able to get more information about what is happening to her body and what her options are. Another option would be for a midwife to visit a woman after she's had a miscarriage (or when she's planning her management options) to offer advice. Wouldn't that be nice!
I have talked to midwives, my general practitioner (GP) and a fertility treatment centre doctor, and, no one seems particularly interested in filling this information gap. I hope I will be able to help change that. If you want to be part of that change, talk to your local GP / midwife / fertility clinic and try to get them interested. (I hope you have more luck than I did. My GP looked at me as though I was speaking Double Dutch.) Everyone who is a Lead Maternity Carer has a responsibility to help make maternity information, including miscarriage information, more accessible.
I have contacted the Ministry of Health for advice and I have also laid a complaint via the Health and Disability Commission. Because of the way the system is set up I couldn't complain about a lack of information, I could only complain about a bad service. So unfortunately I had to complain about my local hospital (who actually gave me excellent care, just perhaps not enough information - but are they really responsible for giving me information, or is that something the Ministry of Health should be covering? Time will tell).
I'll keep you updated as and when I hear back from the Ministry of Health and the Health and Disability Commission. Keep an eye on my blog for updates.
