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Records of supplies and administration of the drugs have to be kept in the drug
books. To ensure that all practising domiciliary midwives in London were qualified to
administer pethidine, lectures on the subject were arranged. The number of administrations
of pethidine by midwives was :
Confinements attended by
As Midwives
As Maternity Nurses
L.C.C. Midwives 1,186 244
Hospital District Midwives 645 67
District Nursing Association Midwives 369 76
Trilene
For many years the use of trilene by midwives in domiciliary practice has been under
discussion. At the request of the Ministry of Health the Council's domiciliary midwives
service participated in a trial of trilene inhalant in the latter part of 1952 and the first
three months of 1953. The results of this trial are being investigated by a joint subcommittee
of the Medical Research Council and the Royal College of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists, and on the result of the trial will probably depend the use of
trilene by domiciliary midwives in future.
Premature infants
Premature
babies born
at home
The arrangements outlined in the report for 1952 for nursing premature infants
at home were continued and special equipment was lent on 59 occasions. 43 babies
were removed to hospital in heated cots and with oxygen supplies provided by the
hospital.
The following hospitals have special units or cots for the reception of premature
infants—Hammersmith, King's College, University College, British Hospital for
Mothers and Babies, and the Mothers' Hospital. Some other hospitals take them into cots
attached to the maternity units. There is a close liaison between hospital almoners and
the Council's health visitors to ensure immediate follow-up on discharge from hospital.
377 babies weighing 5½ lbs. or less were reported to the supervisors of midwives.
The following figures are based on their reports: 296 mothers were multi-parae and
51 primi-parae; 27 were under 21 years of age, 58 over 35 years, (including 2 primiparae)
and 21 were having their sixth or subsequent pregnancy. Periods of gestation
according to the mothers' dates were:
Under 32 weeks 16
32 to 36 weeks 63
Over 36 weeks 268
75 received inadequte ante-natal care due to late booking and failure to attend the
clinic regularly, and of these 14 were unbooked emergencies (7 primi-parae).
Predisposing causes in the mother were:
Toxaemia 26
Anaemia (Hb under 70 per cent.) with
or without hypertension 21
Respiratory infection 6
Twins 30
The weights of the infants were:
Under 3½ lb 25
3½ lb. and under 4½ lb 46
4½ lb. and under 5 lb. 81
5 lb. and over 225
Care of
premature
infants
292 infants were nursed at home and 4 died. 288 were making good progress when
discharged by the midwife, usually at 3 or 4 weeks. 253 of these (88 per cent.) were
entirely breast fed. 85 infants were removed to hospital. The usual practice is to transfer