Obstetrician injury whilst managing a shoulder dystocia: A case report

Sa’adatu Usman, Srujana Parupalli, Amith Pinto, Nicholas Neal, Fidelma O’Mahony

University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, England.

DOI: 10.4236/ojog.2012.21011                

Abstract

Anecdotally, obstetricians have been known to sustain physical injuries whilst assisting deliveries but these are not always reported. This case describes how a mallet finger deformity was sustained by a consultant obstetrician whilst attempting to deliver a fetus with shoulder dystocia. Although this is a rare type of injury, it had significant impact on the consultant’s ability to provide clinical care for some time. Disruptions in service provision have direct financial consequences to the healthcare system. This case report highlights the importance of reporting these injuries at the workplace.

Keywords

Shoulder Dystocia; Mallet Finger; Occupational Injuries

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Gherman, R.B., Chauhan, S., Ouzounian, J.G., Lerner, H., Gonik, B. and Goodwin, T.M. (2006) Shoulder dystocia: The unpreventable obstetric emergency with empiric management guidelines. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 195, 657-672. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2005.09.007
[2]	Focus Group Shoulder Dystocia (1998) Confidential enquiries into stillbirths and deaths in infancy. Fifth annual report. Maternal and Child Health Research Consortium, London, 73-79.
[3]	http://www.rcog.org.uk/resources/Public/pdf/shoulderdystocia_42.pdf
[4]	Naef, R.W. and Morrison, J.C. (1994) Guidelines for management of shoulder dystocia. Journal of Perinatology, 14, 435-441.
[5]	Levy, B.S, Wegman, D.H., Baron, S.L. and Sohas, R.K. (2000) Occupational health, recognising and preventing work related diseases and injury. 4th Edition, Williams and Wilkins, Lippincot.
[6]	Mallet fracture. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/98168-overview
[7]	Maitra, A. and Dorani, B. (1993) The conservative treatment of mallet finger with a simple splint: A case report. Archives of Emergency Medicine, 10, 244-248.
[8]	National Audit Office (2003) A safer place to work: Improving the management of health and safety risks to staff in NHS trusts. National Audit Office Report.
[9]	Sickness Absence Rates in the NHS (2009) Experimental statistics. The NHS Information Centre, Workforce and Facilities Team.