Meconium Online Course(s) & Continuing Education
Access the latest clinical skills and research for Meconium for PREGNANCY, LABOUR & CHILDBIRTH professional training. These Meconium online courses provide practice-changing skills and valuable perspectives from leading global experts. This Meconium education has been accredited for a variety of CEUs / CERPs and can be accessed on-demand, at your own pace.
Silke has practiced as a midwife in a range of birth environments for many years. She is also a midwifery educator, working with undergraduate and postgraduate midwives. She originally hails from Yorkshire, UK, but has lived and worked for many years in Marlborough, New Zealand, and more recently has 'crossed the ditch' to Tasmania, Australia.
This presentation is developed from the findings of a structured review of evidence, entitled 'How effective is the presence of meconium-stained amniotic fluid as a predictor of neonatal morbidity and mortality?' undertaken as a Master of Midwifery dissertation at the University of Leeds, UK, back in 2005. A discussion of her findings – 'Holy Meconium' - was published in Essentially MIDIRS in 2013 and she has since presented at conferences. She continues to keep abreast of theories, research findings and practice implications relating to meconium.
In 1903, Whitridge Williams declared “A characteristic sign of impending asphyxia is the escape of meconium”. It’s unlikely this statement was founded on robust, peer-reviewed research, though there has since been research a-plenty based on the underlying inference that in-utero meconium passage is associated with poorer outcomes. Had researchers instead begun with questioning if meconium is indeed an independent marker for those poorer outcomes, then we may nowadays have a better understanding of why most infants with a poor outcome do not pass meconium in labour (Greenwood et al 2003) and most babies exposed to meconium liquor are born in good condition.
Using the findings from an extensive review of the literature, this presentation will begin by exploring the theories of meconium passage. It will review the research that is currently shaping our meconium guidelines (meconium as pathological) and analyse the data that supports the concept of meconium passage as a physiological, i.e., ‘normal’, event. Then, using the evidence, it will critique the current assessment and management practices of meconium labours and infants born through meconium.
Does meconium deserve its reputation as an omen for poor outcomes? Or have we been unjustly scared meconiumless??
