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AMOSS #3

2009 is an exciting year for AMOSS. We are pleased to report significant progress since we started the project in March last year. AMOSS is being established as an active surveillance system to study rare or severe conditions of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium across Australia and New Zealand.

Conditions to be studied from 2009:

Antenatal pulmonary embolus
Amniotic fluid embolism
Eclampsia
Morbid obesity
Placenta accreta
Peripartum hysterectomy

Calendar of events 2009

January	Start ethics process
May	Start 'phasing in' data collection
June	Launch of AMOSS
September	Review the first 3 months of data collection
November	Progress report circulated to stakeholders

AMOSS needs you!

You may have recently received an e-mail inviting you to participate in the AMOSS maternity service survey. The aim of the survey is to help us gain a better understanding of the distribution and availability of maternity services across Australia and New Zealand. A big thank you to all of you who have completed the survey so promptly, for those of you who have not completed it, there is still time to do so simply click on the link below. It should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. All maternity units have been invited to participate. Findings will be published in the AMOSS annual report and a peer-review journal but no individual hospitals will be identified in the results. We do value your time and would like to thank you for your contribution to AMOSS.

OUR PROGESS DURING 2008

AMOSS in 2008

Consultation and engagement – Your input

To date we’ve consulted with over 50 organisations and professional groups which include Obstetricians/Midwives and Managers from maternity services, professional colleges, jurisdictional Department’s of Health, clinical networks and consumer representatives.

We’ve made contact with over 250 maternity units and over 1,500 health care professionals through newsletters and conferences.

To ensure there is adequate representation from each State and Territory, a State/Territory representative role has been created and is incorporated into the AMOSS governance and management structures. We would like to welcome on board the following representatives:

Professor Jeremy Oats for Victoria
A/Professor Bipin Gupta for Tasmania
A/Professor Leonie Callaway for Queensland
Dr Wendy Pollock as the clinical coordinator for Victoria and Tasmania

In addition the role as AMOSS investigators; Professor Michael Peek represents New South Wales, Professor David Ellwood represents Australian Capital Territory and Dr Nolan McDonnall represents Western Australia.

All the above mentioned prepresentatives are members of the AMOSS Advisory group.

Developing the AMOSS network – inviting you to be a partner

Thank you to all of you that have signed-up to participate in AMOSS. Since our last newsletter we have travelled to Tasmania, Queensland, NSW, and Victoria to meet maternity service staff at urban and remote centres. While we haven’t travelled as far as the Northern Territory or Auckland, New Zealand we would like to thank their maternity units for their support and agreeing to participate in the AMOSS data collection – We are delighted with such a positive response and we look forward to working with you all.

To date we have recruited over 90 hospitals. We do want as many public and private maternity units in Australia and New Zealand to participate. For more information about what participating involves please click on the link below.

Streamlined and online – Method of reporting on AMOSS conditions at your hospital

The AMOSS web-based data collection system is designed to be user-friendly and informative. Once a month you or your maternity unit’s AMOSS data coordinator (reporting midwife/clinician) will be e-mailed a list of AMOSS conditions and asked to simply tick a box to indicate whether a clinical episode (that is defined as an AMOSS condition) has occurred within your hospital, or if there is ‘nothing to report’.

If there is an AMOSS case to report you or your maternity unit’s AMOSS data coordinator will automatically be re-routed to an online data collection form. All data collected will be non-identifiable and can be found from the woman’s medical notes. Data items focus on; women’s details, previous pregnancies, previous medical history, this pregnancy, this delivery and outcomes for mother and baby.

The web-based data collection system will be ready for use by the end of May. During the phasing in of AMOSS we encourage you or your AMOSS data coordinator to provide us with feedback on the usability and content of the system. The AMOSS website will be linked to a new PRERU website.

Rewards for Midwives
Midwives that actively participate in identifying and reporting on AMOSS conditions within their maternity unit will now be eligible to apply for 5 midPLUS points from the Australian College of Midwives.

AMOSS project coordinator
Ms Janice Biggs
Tel 02 9382 1068

Perinatal and Reproductive Epidemiology Research Unit (PRERU)
School of Women's & Children's Health
Sydney Children's Hospital
Level 2 NcNevin Dickson Building
Randwick Hosptials Campus
Randwick NSW 2031

AMOSS Investigators
Associate Professor Elizabeth Sullivan, Perinatal and Reproductive Epidemiology Research Unit, School of Women and Children’s Health, University of New South Wales

Professor David Ellwood, School of Clinical Medicine, Australian National University Medical School

Professor Michael Peek, Nepean Clinical School, University of Sydney

Dr Marian Knight, National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver, Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales

Professor Caroline Homer, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Technology, Sydney

Dr Nolan McDonnell, Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, Western Australia

Professor Elizabeth Elliott, Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit; The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney

Dr Yvonne Zurynski, Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney

Dr Claire McLintock, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Associate Professor Tessa Ho, Office of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney

MAILING ADDRESS | Perinatal and Reproductive Epidemiology Research Unit | School of Women’s and Children’s Health | University of New South Wales | Sydney Children’s Hospital | Level 2 McNevin Dickson Building | Randwick Hospitals Campus | Randwick 2031 | TELEPHONE | 02 9382 1068 |

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