Stages of Pregnancy and Childbirth - Essay Example

"Stages of Pregnancy and Childbirth" is an important example of a paper on pregnancy.
Childbirth or delivery as is commonly referred gives rise to multiple complications to women daily. Very many health facilities offer delivery services but still, complications arise, some of these have severe ramifications resulting in the deaths of the baby, the mother, or at some time the both. Outpatient clinics refer to small size health institutions that offer health services without admitting any patient. A hospital on the other hand is a huge bigger facility providing medical and surgical treatment and nursing care for sick and injured people. both facilities may offer antenatal services depending on the level of professionalism in the clinic since, in hospitals, there exist enough facilities to handle pregnancy (Chatterjee & Hevner, 2010).

Pregnancy is a delicate process beginning at conception and ends with the delivery. This nine months duration requires constant medical checks and consultation with a medical practitioner. For different reasons, people visit different doctors and practitioners such as either at a hospital or an outpatient clinic differ depending on the availability of resources and the training level of the practitioners at the facility. A doctor specializes in a single aspect of service delivery. Gynecologists are such doctors who relate very closely with women at pregnancy, however, seeking the services of unqualified personnel or an understaffed institution is likely to result in adequate services thereby a possible worsening of the pregnancy-related problems.  

In a hospital, there are facilities enough to carry out tastings and appropriate diagnosis of any infection or any complication relating to the pregnancy. However, at an outpatient clinic, some of these may lack, the absence of boarding facility worsens the situation in case of untimely labor, the patient is made to spend the night in poor facilities or worse still is sent back home with an appointment for the following day. This risks the lives of the two and heightens the chances for fatalities. One of the greatest pregnancy-related complications that most women experience especially those pregnant for the first time includes ectopic pregnancy, which is the placement of the fertilized ova in the fallopian tube. This requires early detection and timely correctional surgery. The surgical facilities required in such a case may never be found at an outpatient climatic thereby belittling the services offered at such facilities (Ricci & Kyle, 2009).

Some of the very basic advantages of an outpatient climatic that makes most patients attracted to them include efficiency and personalized care. The doctors in these facilities understand the business related to health care and work to uphold the vision of their facilities. They handle their patients carefully and with adequate speed. There are thus no queues and unhonored appointments as may at times characterize public hospitals. However, a hospital offers more home-based and customized care than an outpatient clinic. The presence of boarding facilities at hospitals is an assurance of the safety of a patient. Most importantly is the presence of surgical facilities such as theatres and equipment. This is an assurance that in case of an eventuality during childbirth, a patient is easily transferred into the theater, and the process would still have a chance of coming out successfully (Alexander, 2010).

In retrospect, childbirth presents several challenges that cannot easily be managed by a small or medium-sized facility. It is therefore advisable that patients analyze their service providers for facilities and technical know-how before commitment (Fogel & Woods, 2008).