Premium
Early‐onset group B Streptococcus prevention protocols in New Zealand public hospitals
Author(s) -
Gosling Isobelle A,
Stone Peter R,
Grimwood Keith
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.734
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1479-828X
pISSN - 0004-8666
DOI - 10.1111/j.0004-8666.2002.00363.x
Subject(s) - medicine , public health , family medicine , group b , disease prevention , risk factor , pediatrics , environmental health , surgery , nursing
Objective Determine group B streptococcus (GBS) prevention protocols. Methods Questionnaire survey of 19 hospitals accounting for 73% of New Zealand births. Results Prevention policies were reported by 16 (84%) hospitals (bacteriological‐screening n = 4, risk‐factor determination n = 8, both strategies n = 4). Only five out of 12 (42%) centres using risk‐assessment administered antibiotics for all high‐risk criteria. Inadequate specimen collection and culture methods meant no hospital maximised culture‐based strategies. Nevertheless, hospitals with prevention policies had lower early‐onset GBS disease rates (0.46 versus 1.44 per 1,000 births; OR 0.32; (95% CI 0.12, 0.98)). Conclusions Prevention strategies can be further improved by hospitals fully implementing nationally agreed guidelines.