Gynecology and Obstetrics

Biography

Biography: Gilli Moorhawk

Abstract

There are very good reasons we require clinical trials for all new innovations in healthcare: the drugs and techniques that are introduced have an impact not just today in the operating theatre, or this week in the hospital, but potentially for the lifetime of the patient. When the patient is a newborn baby, this consideration of treatment impact is especially essential. Yet clinical trials often last less than a year, and treatment impact may only surface, 5, 10 or even 30 years later.

Gilli takes a cautionary journey through the development of obstetric clinical practice in the last 120 years. There are many interventions which saved lives and were lauded at the time, but had catastrophic impacts on the babies later in life. Some of these practices were introduced for the benefit of the clinician and not the wellbeing of the infant and so may bear reassessment.

With the focus on live birth statistics to drive practices around infertility and birth it’s useful to remember that these interventions are not only in place to deliver a live birth today, but also a healthy child and adult tomorrow.  Exploring the development of routine birth interventions, revisiting the reasons why drugs are avoided in pregnancy, and discussing concerns in the development of neo-natal care through the 20th Century, this is a talk designed to inspire debate and discussion.This talk will offer thought provoking real world and real life examples, with the intention to remind clinicians of old practices that perhaps should not have been forgotten, discuss normalised practices that are perhaps not the best practices and inspire new thinking and new solutions in this critical field.