The Globe and Mail: “Canadian gynecologists group issues new compassionate care guidelines for miscarriage patients”
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(photo by Laura Proctor)
Modupe Tunde-Byass speaks about the new clinical guidelines for early pregnancy loss in a June article.
Modupe Tunde-Byass, an associate professor in the ob-gyn department and on staff at North York General Hospital, talked to The Globe and Mail in a June article about the new clinical guidelines for early pregnancy loss from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC). The guidelines include a call to establish more early pregnancy assessment clinics, similar to ones in Britain, to improve care and reduce waiting times.
Crucially, the SOGC guidelines address mental health supports for patients who experience loss.
SOGC president Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck, who has specialized in maternal fetal medicine for more than 20 years, says, “I think one of the things that is coming to the forefront, or we realize now, is the impact that these early losses have on women. I think they’ve been minimized in the past.
“I’ve heard from women who have sat and actually bled in the emergency room and then walked into the public washroom and passed a fetus. That’s not okay.”
Tunde-Byass was trained in the U.K. She started an early pregnancy assessment clinic in 2004 in Canada after seeing the gap in care. At her clinic, patients up to 20 weeks pregnant who are experiencing symptoms such as bleeding, abdominal pain and cramping can receive urgent attention. There is also an emphasis on psychological supports.
She says emergency rooms are not built to support patients in this way and that the new SOGC guidelines will legitimize efforts like hers to design better care for patients.
