Page 50 - Retail Pharmacy Magazine October 2020

48 PRE AND POSTNATAL FROM PAGE 47 are some questions about whether the humidity created in the environment of a bath and the aerosol of the virus are increasing the risk to healthcare workers,” he said. “So, that’s one thing that’s changed, but thankfully not here, in Queensland.” Both doctors agree that the major change during and after birth is “the environment in terms of visitation”. “So, patients are only allowed one birth support person, and obviously, often that’s the partner, but if the partner can’t be there, it’s one other person,” Dr Moffrey said. “Unfortunately, no one else besides that is allowed and no other visitation while in the hospital. So, it’s a little bit isolating for some mums, especially if they’ve got other children at home – their other children can’t come to see them while they’re in hospital.” Agreeing with Dr Moffrey, Dr Jacobson adds that two other changes being implemented around the time of the birth are “early discharge from hospital” and, as expected, “seeking testing and treatment” if mum or baby are unwell. The IVF consideration For a lot of women who may have trouble conceiving naturally, IVF has been one of the go-to ways of achieving the family dream. However, as with other elective surgeries and procedures, the possibility of IVF taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic – especially when the virus first took hold – was under threat. Dr Jacobson says that due to the “many unknowns regarding Covid-19 and its long-term effects, it’s important for women considering IVF to take Covid-19 into account in their decision making” but “in general, with the information that we have now about Covid-19, for most women it would be reasonable to proceed with IVF”. Dr Moffrey added: “What happened originally, when all the elective surgery got cancelled in the initial stages, a lot of the IVF was caught up in that. So, people were, unfortunately, having to postpone their cycles and things like that. “We’re now back fully operating with the facility workers. There’s no need to postpone it at all. Especially if you’re in that high-risk category in terms of age, you don’t want to be waiting six to 12 months to start egg collections, because that’s a massive difference with your fertility. So, at the moment, there’s no need to change it. “There’s a small risk, like we said before, that if you caught Covid-19 just as you had the embryo transferred, obviously that wouldn’t be ideal, but in the big scheme of things the risks are minimal.”. TO PAGE 50 “Even if the mother has Covid-19, they can still choose their mode of delivery, There’s no better mode of delivery \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\[even\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] if she’s infected with Covid-19.” RETAIL PHARMACY • OCT 2020