#229 | Sara Wickham: The Risk of the Risk-Based Approach

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Dr. Sara Wickham, PhD, MA, PGCert, BA, is a best-selling author, speaker, and researcher who works independently. She has more than twenty years' experience as a midwife; she's lectured in more than 30 countries; and, she is a researcher and author of seventeen books, and has edited three midwifery journals. She is considered a leading expert on the research and evidence around many of the most controversial topics and most difficult decisions in childbirth: Induction, newborn interventions, GBS infection, RhoGAM or Anti-D prophylaxis for Rh-negative mothers, and plus-size pregnancy.
Today, she joins us to talk about risk and risk reduction. In focusing on risk factors or lack thereof in any individual woman, we are generalizing and categorizing her care not based on her individual and holistic assessment, but rather on a risk category that may not actually be the best fit for her and her baby. Sara explains five ways in which we should consider risk and risk assessment in childbirth. For example, are we considering the impact of a risk-centered approach on the long-term health of the mother and baby or how it may undermine a woman's confidence? Ultimately, she questions the conviction that, in childbirth, more action, more tests, and more intervention lead to safer outcomes. And as a bonus, she answers the top-three questions from our community.
Sara Wickham
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Chapters

1. #229 | Sara Wickham: The Risk of the Risk-Based Approach (00:00:00)

2. What are the risks and benefits of the risk-based approach? (00:16:30)

3. What does obstetric research measure? (00:18:48)

4. Antibiotics for Group B Strep (00:19:33)

5. How many babies die from Group B Strep disease? (00:21:14)

6. What's the impact of getting antibiotics in labor? (00:24:48)

7. The advantages of spontaneous labor (00:35:32)

8. What's the risk of going past 40 weeks in pregnancy (00:38:53)

9. Is induction necessary for preeclampsia or suspected preeclampsia? (00:42:19)

10. Advice for writing a complaint letter to a hospital after a negative birth experience (00:45:52)