OSCES IN Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine An Evidence-Based Approach 2023

* High-quality color printing
* Same content as the original book
* Affordable alternative for personal reading
⚠️ Not an officially licensed or publisher-issued edition

He who studies medicine without books sails an unchartered sea, but he who studies medicine without patients
does not go to sea at all.
Sir William Osler (1849–1919)
Traditionally, the crux of factual knowledge in obstetrics is presented within a myriad of formats
that include textbooks, handbooks, point-of-care resources, and diverse nations’ practice guidelines, while didactic simulations using simulated patients, manikins, or virtual patients assess
different dimensions of clinical performance. Given the daily activities of obstetric care providers
in an era of continuously evolving practice standards, intertwined with the responsibility of
transmission of knowledge and skill to learners, this innovative resource was envisioned to blend
evidence-based practice standards in obstetrics and medical complications of pregnancy with
academic fundamentals into a patient-centered approach using standardized objective structured
clinical examination (OSCE)-type scenarios.
Introduced in 1975 in response to criticisms regarding the reliability and validity of traditional
clinical examinations, OSCEs have been adopted worldwide and are now recognized as gold
standard for assessment of clinical competence [1]. Each of the 77 OSCE chapters starts with a
brief case scenario and guides obstetric practitioners and trainees to focused history taking, which
implies the extrapolation of essential patient information, to then offer evidence-based counseling
and management from preconception or early pregnancy to the postpartum period. With reference to contemporary British, American, Canadian, Australian, and other international clinical
policy makers, the intent of the book is to provide an evidence-based approach to clinical care,
synchronizing practice recommendations where possible and otherwise allowing international
readers to appreciate diverse evidence-based practices. Developed from the selected ‘Suggested
Readings,’ with a maximum of 10 per chapter, where possible, each scenario assumes the reader is
the obstetric care provider, accompanied by a clinical trainee, providing comprehensive coverage
of the obstetric patient, thereby helping trainees prepare for high-stakes certification examinations
or health care workers in providing care. The pedagogical approach also serves to stress important
elements of basic science and physiology required to appreciate clinical practice.
The marking mechanism is intended as a simple and schematic tool to objectify progress in selfassessment or peer review, with the total points per OSCE chapter in multiples of 5 for homogeneity of structure throughout the book. The weight of allotted points is open to modification
according to the level of the learner, as is the content presented throughout any chapter. For
example, the objectives of a junior obstetric trainee may be solely to extrapolate a patient’s medical
history and initiate necessary investigations, while a senior trainee may be expected to provide
counseling, analyze laboratory results, structure clinical care, and manage complications in
pregnancy or postpartum. Unlike real-time settings, where OSCEs are intended to be completed
within the specified time frame, this book offers teachers and learners flexibility according to
individual needs. Readers are encouraged to recognize that clinical blurbs depicting the progress of
an OSCE scenario often contain clinically relevant academic information presented partly for
learning purposes. To interconnect clinical content while avoiding overlap of concepts addressed
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ALGrawanyelsewhere in the book, readers will find selected ‘Special notes’ directing them to complementary
content addressed in other OSCE chapters or otherwise providing adjunctive literary reference or
highlighting learning points.
This textbook is intended for all obstetric care providers and learners as a stimulus for excellence
in modern evidence-based clinical and academic dimensions of obstetrics. We hope you enjoy the
art of teaching and the lifelong journey of learning, amid providing medical care to the mother and
fetus, as much as we enjoyed crafting these innovative OSCE chapters