Outcomes of care at "Føderiket Midwifery Unit" 2007-2011, a freestanding midwifery-led unit in Oslo. Norway: A prospective cohort study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to provide a description and evaluation of birth outcomes for women who started care at Føderiket Midwifery Unit (FMU), a freestanding midwifery unit in Oslo. FMU opened in 2007 as a five-year project. It was closed in 2011 for economic reasons, and the planned evaluations were never performed. Data from 495 women who started care at FMU were prospectively collected. Socio-demographic characteristics, transfers to hospital, maternal and neonatal outcomes were described. The findings showed that 115 (23%) of the women were primiparous and 380 (77%) multiparous. A total of 408 women (82%) had no complications and no need for additional medical treatment during labour and birth. There were 73 (15%) transfers before birth, and 14 (3%) after birth. Nine women (2%) were delivered by caesarean section and 19 (4%) by vacuum extraction. Thirty women (6%) had postpartum haemorrhage >500 ml and five (1%) received blood transfusions. Five babies (1%) were transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, all were discharged to their homes within a week. There were no cases of deaths, or serious morbidity. Our conclusions are that the results after four years management were comparable to other freestanding midwifery-led units in Western countries.