Background: Obstetric Medicine is an evolving speciality and provides physician-led input to a growing number of women with medical disorders in pregnancy. The Obstetric Medicine service at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital has expanded in recent years to include an obstetric medicine inpatient unit in 2017. To date, there are no studies describing the range of presentations to an obstetric medicine inpatient service.
Aim: To report on the indications for inpatient referral to the Obstetric Medicine inpatient service over a twelve-month period at a tertiary teaching hospital.
Methodology: A retrospective audit of all women admitted to the obstetric medicine inpatient unit or referred to the obstetric medicine team’s consultation service at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital between October 2017 and October 2018.
Results: The obstetric medicine team reviewed 553 presentations in 430 women. 427 initial reviews were provided as a consultative service and 126 reviews were patient admissions to the obstetric medicine inpatient unit. The most frequent reasons for obstetric medicine team referral included gestational diabetes mellitus (125/553, 22.6%), pre-eclampsia (101/553, 18.3%) and cardiovascular issues (81/553, 14.6%). 91 re-admissions required obstetric medicine review. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy 24/91 (26.0%), cardiovascular pathology 18/91 (20.0%) and neurological diagnoses 11/91 (12.0%) were the most common obstetric medicine issues on re-admission.
Conclusion: This audit provides data regarding the inpatient case-mix for an obstetric medicine service in an Australian tertiary hospital.