After administering necessary first aid treatments to pregnant women, rescuers should focus on the pregnancy history in order to determine the other risks that the patients are most likely to experience before professional help arrives. This will help rescuers amply prepare for medical emergencies which can increase the survivability of the patient. Hence, rescuers as well as expecting mothers and their partners should invest in emergency first aid courses since this is where pregnancy history assessment is tackled. Here are some of the elements of pregnancy history that will be discussed in these first aid courses.
The Due Date
This is the expected date when the labor will most likely start. This is normally computed by determining the first date of the patient’s last menstrual period and adding a few months. This data is also computed for patients by gynecologists or their physicians. This date is usually called expected date of confinement or conception.
Problems During Pregnancy
Rescuers should be specific when it comes to asking for problems that the patient might have experienced during pregnancy. This is because there are times wherein patients brush off these problems or symptoms since they think that these conditions are just normal during pregnancy. Rescuers should ask about any cases of bleeding, diabetes and infection at any time during the pregnancy. Abnormal insulin levels during pregnancy is indicative of pregnancy-induced or gestational diabetes which is characterized by the usual symptoms of normal diabetes.
Pain
Pain should be treated as a separate condition by rescuers which means that it should be assessed separately from other aforementioned problems during pregnancy. Rescuers should take note of the other information about the pain that was experienced by the patient during the pregnancy. These information include the type of pain that was felt. Was it a throbbing or stabbing kind of pain? The time when the pain was felt should also be noted. Was it more intense when the patient is lying down or standing up? The duration should also be noted.
Past pregnancy history
If the patient has been pregnant before, rescuers should ask about the number of pregnancies that the patient had and how many of it was successful. Rescuers should also ask about the other medical emergencies that the patient has experienced during these times and what kind of interventions were done to relieve them. Was the patient given first aid treatment before? What kind of medications were given? These are the questions that rescuers should ask.