Risk and Choice in Maternity Care

There is an apparent paradox at play in contemporary western societies with an increased sense of risk-consciousness set against a growing demand for choice. The aim of this book is to illustrate the changing reality of risk management in maternity care and to highlight some of the difficulties encountered in offering or exercising choice. "Risk and Choice in Maternity Care" considers whether risk and choice are always as oppositional as they are sometimes portrayed. Risk management within healthcare is a complex and evolving subject and has developed considerably in recent years. The chapters in this book are written from the perspectives of different countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia and the USA, and offer contrasting views on the approach to best practice, providing evidence-based care and giving women the freedom to choose. The issues raised are assessed in a concluding chapter that challenges the reader to identify how risk and choice considerations may be applied in clinical practice.

ISBN 0443101515   Pages 192 ISBN13 9780443101519 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Elsevier Health Sciences   Weight (grammes) 1000 Imprint Churchill Livingstone   Published in London Format Paperback   Height (mm) 246 Publication date 16 Nov 2006   Width (mm) 189 DEWEY 362.1982   Spine width (mm) 11 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Tertiary education

1		The risk-choice paradox by Andrew Symon		1
2		Healthcare's hidden risks : identifying vulnerability in healthcare systems by Brian Kennedy		13
3		Why informed consent is important in the exercise of maternal choice by Donna O'Boyle		23
4		The instability of risk : women's perspectives on risk and safety in birth by Nadine Pilley Edwards and Jo Murphy-Lawless		35
5		Risk and choice in maternity care : a view from action on pre-eclampsia by Mike Rich		51
6		Risk and choice : a view from an inner city teaching hospital in the UK by Sinead McNally		63
7		Risk and choice : remote and rural risk issues in the UK by Lesley Anne Smith		75
8		Risk and normality in maternity care : revisioning risk for normal childbirth by Denis Walsh		89
9		Risk discourse in the UK : an obstetric perspective by Pall Agustsson		101
10		Conjuring choice while subverting autonomy : medical technocracy and home birth in Ireland by Marie O'Connor		109
11		Risk perception and analysis in Australia by Jennifer Cameron and David Ellwood		123
12		Choices, collaboration and outcomes in Australia by Jennifer Cameron and David Ellwood		139
13		Risk and choice : a US midwifery perspective by Janet Brooks		149
14		Risk and choice : knowledge and control by Andrew Symon		159

"This is a fabulous book."Jenny Fraser. The Practising Midwife. Volume 11 Number 2. February 2008

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