“I’ve been pretty quiet throughout the pregnancy, but now I’m a little anxious and thinking things like,‘ What if I give birth and there’s not enough staff? What’s going on? ‘”He said.
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“I’m the kind of person who inherently trusts our hospital system to be able to provide me if I need it and I have so much empathy for the healthcare workers they face.
“But I also know rationally that they are experiencing a great shortage of staff as a result of the pressures associated with COVID, so the anxiety that something is wrong is at the bottom of my mind.”
Khot said women who were infected with the latest Omicron subvariant generally did not require hospitalization because of the virus and appeared to have milder symptoms.
“While there has been an increase in the number of cases, the cases have been relatively mild. Vaccination rates are quite high, which also helps.”
Stefan Kane, medical director of maternity services at Royal Women’s Hospital and obstetrician specializing in maternal and fetal medicine, said the lining of Omicron’s latest wave was that infected pregnant women had at least three vaccinations and were less likely to get a disease. critic.
The medical director of maternity services at Royal Women’s Hospital, Stefan Kane, said the lining of Omicron’s latest wave was that pregnant women infected with coronavirus were largely vaccinated by three and much less likely to become seriously ill. . Credit: Chris Hopkins
Last year’s Delta outbreak caused an increase in unvaccinated pregnant women and new mothers admitted to intensive care, seriously ill with coronavirus.
“Unlike previous waves of the pandemic, we are not seeing so many women very badly and I think this is a combination of both the impact of vaccination and possibly the different ways in which the new variants affect people.” , said Kane.
But with more than 10,000 new coronavirus infections reported every day in Victoria and thousands more undetected, staff shortages mean nurses and midwives often work double shifts, overtime, and go on days off. .
“It’s very important to recognize how hard they are working in very, very difficult circumstances and how dedicated they are to caring for pregnant women,” Kane said.
John Regan, vice-president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who is also the head of obstetrics at Monash Medical Center in Clayton, said the ward was facing a shortage of staff, believing it was normally d 20 percent. .
There are three rooms in Monash designated for COVID-19. The hospital has also become a priority site for COVID-positive mothers who suffer from acute respiratory problems and need intensive care.
The lack of available midwives and doctors meant that planned cesareans or labor inductions were rescheduled up to four times and in some cases up to three days, Khot said.
Births are often induced when mothers have blood pressure problems, gestational diabetes, or have exceeded the date of birth.
“If you delay a scheduled cesarean, a woman could come in part and you’ll have to do the midnight cesarean with fewer staff because you have no other choice.”
The Victorian secretary of the Australian Federation of Nursing and Midwifery, Lisa Fitzpatrick. Credit: Luis Ascui
The Victorian secretary of the Australian Federation of Nursing and Midwifery, Lisa Fitzpatrick, warned that the recommended proportions of midwife and patient in postnatal care wards were still only being met about 60% of the time.
Fitzpatrick said midwives took double shifts repeatedly as hospitals struggled to fill gaps, mainly due to respiratory illnesses. Hospitals also relied heavily on final-year students of midwives or qualified nurses to complete their postgraduate studies in midwifery.
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“They are [maternity hospitals and midwives] desperately trying to make sure they don’t fit any rules for visitors, ”Fitzpatrick said.
“But that involves a lot of extra work for nurses and midwives.”
All hospital visitors must be fully vaccinated or show evidence of a negative result from a rapid antigen test performed on the day of the visit.
A Victorian government spokeswoman said: “Despite the global shortage of midwives, staff absences due to COVID or the flu and record demand from our healthcare system, our midwives and nurses continue to provide the best possible care to the community “.
“We are investing nearly $ 10 million to support, train and place grade midwives in our hospitals that provide much needed support on the ground,” he said. He said the government was also building capacity in midwifery and nursing.
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