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  5. Allergy, anaphylaxis and critical care (Maternity)
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Important: please update your RDS app to version 4.7.3

Welcome to the March 2025 update from the RDS team

1.     RDS issues - resolutions

1.1 Stability issues - Tactuum implemented a fix on 24th March which we believe has finally addressed the stability issues experienced over recent weeks.  The issue seems to have been related to the new “Tool export” function making repeated calls for content when new toolkit nodes were opened in Umbraco. No outages have been reported since then, and no performance issues in the logs, so fingers crossed this is now resolved.

1.2 Toolkit URL redirects failing– these were restored manually for the antimicrobial calculators on the 13th March when the issue occurred, and by 15th March for the remainder. The root cause was traced to adding a new hostname for an app migrated from another health board and made live that day. This led to the content management system automatically creating internal duplicate redirects, reaching the maximum number of permitted redirects and most redirects therefore ceasing to function.

This issue should not happen again because:

  • All old apps are now fully migrated to RDS. The large number of migrations has contributed to the high number of automated redirects.
  • If there is any need to change hostnames in future, Tactuum will immediately check for duplicates.

1.3 Gentamicin calculators – Incidents have been reported incidents of people accessing the wrong gentamicin calculator for their health board.  This occurs when clinicians are searching for the gentamicin calculator via an online search engine - e.g. Google - rather than via the health board directed policy route. When accessed via an external search engine, the calculator results are not listed by health board, and the start page for the calculator does not make it clearly visible which health board calculator has been selected.

The Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group has asked health boards to provide targeted communication and education to ensure that clinicians know how to access their health board antimicrobial calculators via the RDS, local Intranet or other local policy route. In terms of RDS amendments, it is not currently possible to change the internet search output, so the following changes are now in progress:

  • The health board name will now be displayed within the calculator and it will be made clear which boards are using the ‘Hartford’ (7mg/kg) higher dose calculator
  • Warning text will be added to the calculator to advise that more than one calculator is in use in NHS Scotland and that clinicians should ensure they access the correct one for their health board. A link to the Right Decision Service list of health board antimicrobial prescribing toolkits will be included with the warning text. Users can then access the correct calculator for their Board via the appropriate toolkit.

We would encourage all editors and users to use the Help and Support standard operating procedure and the Editors’ Teams channel to highlight issues, even if you think they may be temporary or already noted. This helps the RDS team to get a full picture of concerns and issues across the service.

 

2.     New RDS presentation – RDS supporting the patient journey

A new presentation illustrating how RDS supports all partners in the patient journey – multiple disciplines across secondary, primary, community and social care settings – as well as patients and carers through self-management and shared decision-making tools – is now available. You will find it in the Promotion and presentation resources for editors section of the Learning and support toolkit.

3.     User guides

A new user guide is now available in the Guidance and tips section of Resources for providers within the Learning and Support area, explaining how to embed content from Google Calendar, Google Maps, Daily Motion, Twitter feeds, Microsoft Stream and Jotforms into RDS pages. A webinar for editors on using this new functionality is scheduled for 1 May 3-4 pm (booking information below.)

A new checklist to support editors in making all the checks required before making a new toolkit live is now available at the foot of the “Request a new toolkit” standard operating procedure. Completing this checklist is not a mandatory part of the governance process, but we would encourage you to use it to make sure all the critical issues are covered at point of launch – including organisational tags, use of Alias URLs and editorial information.

4.Training sessions for RDS editors

Introductory webinars for RDS editors will take place on:

  • Tuesday 29th April 4-5 pm
  • Thursday 1st May 4-5 pm

Special webinar for RDS editors – 1 May 3-4 pm

This webinar will cover:

  1. a) Use of the new left hand navigation option for RDS toolkits.
  2. b) Integration into RDS pages of content from external sources, including Google Calendar, Google Maps and simple Jotforms calculators.

Running usage statistics reports using Google analytics

  • Wednesday 23rd April 2pm-3pm
  • Thursday 22nd May 2pm-3pm

To book a place on any of these webinars, please contact Olivia.graham@nhs.scot providing your name, role, organisation, title and date of the webinar you wish to attend.

5.New RDS toolkits

The following toolkits were launched during March 2025:

SIGN guideline - Prevention and remission of type 2 diabetes

Valproate – easy read version for people with learning disabilities (Scottish Government Medicines Division)

Obstetrics and gynaecology induction toolkit (NHS Lothian) – password-protected, in pilot stage.

Oral care for care home and care at home services (Public Health Scotland)

Postural care in care homes (NHS Lothian)

Quit Your Way Pregnancy Service (NHS GGC)

 

6.New RDS developments

Release of the redesign of RDS search and browse, archiving and version control functionality, and editing capability for shared content, is now provisionally scheduled for early June.

The Scottish Government Realistic Medicine Policy team is leading development of a national approach to implementation of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) as a key objective within the Value Based Health and Care Action Plan. The Right Decision Service has been commissioned to deliver an initial version of a platform for issuing PROMs questionnaires to patients, making the PROMs reports available from patient record systems, and providing an analytics dashboard to compare outcomes across services.  This work is now underway and we will keep you updated on progress.

The RDS team has supported Scottish Government Effective Prescribing and Therapeutics Division, in partnership with Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, in a successful bid for EU funding to test develop, implement and assess new integrated care pathways for polypharmacy, including pharmacogenomics. As part of this project, the RDS will be working with NHS Tayside to test extending the current polypharmacy RDS decision support in the Vision primary care electronic health record system to include pharmacogenomics decision support.

7. Implementation projects

We have just completed a series of three workshops consulting on proposed improvements to the Being a partner in my care: Realistic Medicine together app, following piloting on 10 sites in late 2024. This app has been commissioned by Scottish Government Realistic Medicine to support patients and citizens to become active partners in shared decision-making and encouraging personalised care based on outcomes that matter to the person. We are keen to gather more feedback on this app. Please forward any feedback to ann.wales3@nhs.scot

 

 

Hypertension Pre-eclampsia Severe Management (403)

Warning Warning: This guideline is 1545 day(s) past its review date.

Please report any inaccuracies or issues with this guideline using our online form

Any woman with severe proteinuric hypertension where the decision has been made to deliver, and one of the following criteria is met:

A

  • Hypertension ≥ 140/90 mmHg
  • Proteinuria ≥3g in 24 hours / 2+ on dipstick testing Plus AT LEAST one of the following:
    • Headache, visual disturbance, epigastric pain
    • Clonus ≥ 3 beats
    • Platelet count <100 x109, AST >50 iu/litre

B

  • Severe Hypertension, not responding to oral medication
  • Systolic ≥ 160 mm Hg, or
  • Diastolic ≥ 110 mm Hg, or
  • MAP ≥ 125 mm Hg

C

  • Eclampsia

  • Consultant Obstetrician/Senior Anaesthetistmust be informed of all patients starting on this guideline

  • MAP > 140 mm Hg is an obstetric emergency

  • No evidence that one particular drug is superior for treatment. Labetalol tends to be the first line drug of choice in this locality.

  • Continuous fetal monitoring is necessary because lowering of maternal BP may lead to fetal distress, particularly if there is associated IUGR

  • Automated oscillometric devices may underestimate BP

  • Commence MEWS chart (use one large bold box per hour)

  • MAP >140 mm Hg - measure BP every 5 minutes

  • MAP 125 -140 mm Hg - measure BP every 15 minutes

  • Aim for gradual reduction in BP to around 130-140 / 90 - 100 mmHg (MAP < 125)

  • Site 2 x wide bore IV cannula (14g, ideally ; at least 16g)

  • Check “BP bloods”: (U+E, LFT, urate, FBC +/- coagulation if platelet count is < 150 or previous abnormality) 6 hourly if patient stable.

  • Group and save.

  • Foley catheter and hourly urine volumes commenced

  • Continuous pulse oximetry

Labetalol:

Contraindications including:

Asthma, Bronchospasm, Uncontrolled heart failure

IV bolus:    

50 mg over 5 minutes
i.e. 10 mls of 5 mg/ml
Can be repeated; and/or followed by infusion (see chart)

Infusion preparation: 

Prepare 5 mg/ml infusion
i.e.  300 mg Labetalol in 60mls
Commence infusion at 50 mg (10 mls) per hour.

Nifedipine:

Contraindications including: Hypersensitivity to nifedipine, or to other dihydropyridines because of the theoretical risk of cross-reactivity, or to any of the excipients, Angina, Recent MI, Aortic Stenosis
  (Care with Magnesium Sulphate – see note below*)
Preparation:  10 mg capsule orally (swallowed whole)
Repeated doses of 10 mg can be given at 6 hourly intervals

Hydralazine:

Contraindications:

Hypersensitivity to hydralazine or dihydralazine

Connective tissue disorders
Severe tachycardia and heart failure with high output cardiac failure (e.g. in thyrotoxicosis)
Myocardial insufficiency due to mechanical obstruction (e.g. in the presence of aortic or mitral stenosis or constructive pericarditis)
Isolated right ventricular failure due to pulmonary hypertension (cor pulmonale)
Dissecting aortic aneurysm
IV bolus: 5 mg slowly over 5 minutes
Prepare 1 mg/ml bolus: reconstitute 20 mg Hydralazine to 20 mls with normal saline. IV bolus of 5 mls (5mg)
Boluses can be repeated at 20 minute intervals, but may be simpler to start infusion
(A 5 mg dose can be effective for 6 hours)
Infusion preparation:   Prepare 1 mg/ml infusion i.e.  40 mg Hydralazine made to 40mls with normal saline.
Infuse at 10 mg (10 mls) per hour

*Note

There are 2 case reports of neuromuscular blockade resulting from simultaneous use of Nifedipine and Magnesium Sulphate.  However, 1,469 women were assigned to receive Magnesium Sulphate and Nifedipine in the Magpie trial, and no such blockade was reported.  Similarly, no adverse events were reported in RCTs comparing Hydralazine with Nifedipine in which all, or some, women received magnesium sulphate.  The risk of neuromuscular blockade is therefore likely to be low.

In severe preeclampsia consideration must be given to commencing seizure prophylaxis. This should be discussed with the consultant obstetrician when informing them of the patient presentation. 

Magnesium Sulphate is the drug of choice unless there are specific contra indications to its use (pre-existing cardiac disease, acute renal failure, Myasthenia gravis).

Paediatricians should be informed if Magnesium Sulphate has been administered prior to delivery.

Magnesium Sulphate:

Loading Dose (by hand):                      

  • 4 grams IV over 5 minutes
    (Add 4 grams (8 mls of 50%) Magnesium Sulphate to 12 mls Normal Saline)          

Maintenance Infusion Dose:

  • IV infusion 1 gram Magnesium Sulphate per hour                 

Maintenance Infusion Preparation:

  • 10 grams (20 mls of 50%) Magnesium Sulphate made up to 50 mls by adding to 30 mls normal saline in a 60 ml luer lock syringe
  • Infusion rate is 1 gram (5 mls) per hour via an syringe driver

Infusion is maintained at 1 gram/hr for 24 hours provided:

  • Respiratory rate > 14 per minute
  • Urine output > 25mls/hour, and
  • Patellar reflexes are present (use arm reflexes if regional anaesthesia)

NB:  The volume of the Magnesium Sulphate infusion must be included as part of  the total fluid maintenance infusion for the patient of 85ml/hour

Recurrent Seizures on Treatment:

  • Give a 2nd bolus dose of Magnesium Sulphate 2 grams over 5 minutes by hand (do not stop infusion)
  • add 2 grams (4 mls of 50%) Magnesium Sulphate to 6 mls of Normal Saline
  • One dose only

If further seizures despite 2nd bolus give Diazepam 10mg IV.  Intubation may be required to protect airway and ensure adequate oxygenation.

Magnesium Sulphate – Patient Monitoring:

Reflexes:

  • Patellar reflexes after completion of loading dose and hourly whilst on maintenance dose (use arm reflexes if functional regional anaesthesia).
  • If reflexes are absent stop infusion until reflexes return and check Magnesium level.

Oxygen Saturation / Respiratory Rate:

  • Continuous O2 saturation should be assessed.
  • Perform respiratory rate every 15 minutes
  • If O2 saturation < 94% or respiratory rate < 14 / min, administer O2 (4 L/min via Hudson mask), stop Magnesium Sulphate infusion and call anaesthetist. Check Magnesium level. Consider antidote

Urine Output:

Monitor hourly.

If >20 ml/h - continue Magnesium Sulphate infusion.

If 10 - 20 ml/h & creatinine <150mmol/l - continue as protocol and recheck Magnesium level every 2 hours.

If 10 - 20 ml/h & creatinine > 150mmol/l (or urea >10) - recheck Magnesium levels immediately and every 2 hours. Decrease infusion rate to 0.5gram/hour.

If < 10 ml/h - stop infusion and check Magnesium level.

Biochemical Monitoring (Magnesium levels):  This is not routine. If required then see below.

The Therapeutic range is 2-4 mmol/l.

Low If < 2 mmol/l - Maintain infusion at current rate.  Recheck in 2 hours.

Therapeutic If 2 -3.5 mmol/l - Continue infusion at current rate. Recheck in 2 hours if clinical indication remains.

High If 3.55 - 5 mmol/l - STOP INFUSION for 15 min and then recommence at half previous infusion rate and recheck in 1 hour.

Very High If > 5mmol/l - STOP INFUSION and consider antidote. See below for further details.

Magnesium Sulphate toxicity and management:

Clinical Features

   Mg level

Action

Loss of Patellar reflexes
Weakness
Nausea, Flushing
Double vision
Slurred speech
Somnolence 

circa 5 mmol/l

STOP INFUSION

GIVE ANTIDOTE
10 ml of 10% Calcium Gluconate (1gram)
Slow IV inject over 10 mins. 
CHECK Magnesium level.  

Muscle Paralysis

circa 6-7.5 mmol/l

STOP INFUSION

GIVE ANTIDOTEAS ABOVECHECK
Magnesium level.  

Respiratory Arrest
Cardiac Arrest 

circa 12 mmol/l

STOP INFUSION

INSTITUTE CPR 
2222 CALL Obstetric and cardiac arrest team INTUBATE AND VENTILATE
GIVE ANTIDOTE AS ABOVE 
CHECK Magnesium level

  • The main risk is of pulmonary oedema to iatrogenic fluid overload.
  • Patients should be fluid restricted (85mls per hour of total input).
  • Document hourly urine output on MEWS chart
  • Oliguria is common in severe pre-eclampsia.
  • The natural diuresis may not occur for at least 12 hours post delivery.
  • Renal failure is uncommon.

  • Furosemide should be reserved for pulmonary oedema and prescription must be discussed with consultant obstetrician.

  • In persisting oliguria U&Es should be checked 6 hourly.
  • In persisting oliguria: urine osmolality that is not concentrated, or high potassium levels indicates renal failure and renal physicians should be contacted.

  • CVP monitoring can be misleading.
  • Consultant obstetrician on-call must be informed if CVP line is considered.

  • Delivery is the definitive treatment for severe pre-eclampsia/eclampsia
  • Mother MUST be stabilised prior to delivery irrespective of circumstances (e.g. fetal distress)
  • HDU support is required post delivery
  • ITU if ventilated

  • Once BP stable, in the region of 140 / 90 mm Hg, reduce infusion rate by 50mg / hour.

  • When infusion rate is at 50mg / hour, reduce to 25mg / hour.

  • If BP remains stable at 25mg / hr for one hour, give Labetalol 200mg orally and discontinue IV infusion 30 minutes later.

  • Prescribe antenatal dose of Labetalol.

  • If not on antihypertensive medication antenatally, commence Labetalol 200mg tds.

  • Anticipate conversion to oral medication within 12 hours of delivery.

  • Women who have required intravenous antihypertensives generally need to continue some form of antihypertensive medication in the immediate postnatal period.

  • If on antihypertensive medication prior to pregnancy consider re-prescribing those agents instead.

Editorial Information

Last reviewed: 15/12/2015

Next review date: 11/01/2021

Author(s): Janet Brennand.

Version: 2

Approved By: Obstetrics Clinical Governance Group

Document Id: 403