Point of Care Snippets
Knowledge support for obstetric counselling and documentation
The problem
Obstetric teams counsel women about complex clinical decisions every day: labour induction, planning birth after a previous caesarean, managing FGR. These conversations require current evidence, plain-language communication, and documentation that supports continuity of care.
The quality of this process can be variable. Availability of senior support is often less than ideal; time pressure makes precise numbers hard to recall, and documentation of what was discussed, understood, and agreed upon is often incomplete. The cause is rarely the individual clinician; it lies in the systems we work in. Structured, accessible resources reduce cognitive load and make it easier to deliver high-quality care in real-world settings.
What this project is
A collection of structured clinical snippets covering the most common counselling and documentation scenarios in obstetric practice. Each snippet has three components:
A concise summary of the clinical question, the key trials, guideline positions, and the numbers a clinician needs to know. Written for the clinician, not the patient, with full references.
Not scripts. Starting points that clinicians adapt to their own style and the individual woman's needs.
A structured, copy-pasteable template for the medical record that captures what was discussed, the options presented, the patient's questions and preferences, and the agreed plan.
The snippets are delivered as a web application with one-tap copy for eMR documentation. Designed for use in clinic, on the ward, or on the birth suite at 2 am.
Why it matters
In detailed retrospective analyses of adverse events, documentation adequacy was poor or a contributing factor in 75% of cases. Informed consent failures appear in almost one-half. A structured, evidence-based point-of-care resource may be able to assist.
Patient safety
The same counselling and documentation gaps appear repeatedly in adverse obstetric outcomes. Structured resources address these patterns directly.
Patient autonomy
Effective counselling is the foundation of informed consent. Each snippet models collaborative, non-directional counselling and links to verified consumer resources.
Clinician support
Front-line clinicians are expected to counsel on a wide range of scenarios, often with limited experience and time. The snippets support clinical judgement rather than replacing it.
Education
Each snippet is grounded in current evidence with full references to primary trials, Cochrane reviews, and college guidelines, including limitations.
How Point of Care Snippets are developed
Topic selection is driven by frequency of appearance in clinical case reviews, depth of coverage in the evidence literature, and clinical importance in routine obstetric practice, with a 20-topic roadmap established.
Evidence synthesis draws on a curated library of over 460 obstetric sources: peer-reviewed trials, Cochrane reviews, College guidelines, and local clinical policy.
Artificial Intelligence tools accelerate evidence synthesis, drafting, cross-checking clinical claims against source documents and performing scheduled searches. All content is reviewed, corrected, and refined by the clinician. Clinical judgement, voice, and final authority rest with the expert clinician.
Research context
This project sits at the intersection of clinical decision support, patient safety, and AI-assisted knowledge tool development. Two related questions are of interest:
How can AI tools, working with a curated clinical evidence base and expert clinician oversight, produce structured knowledge resources that are accurate, current, and useful at the point of care? What is the development workflow, and how does it scale across clinical topics?
Do obstetric teams find the snippets useful? Do they change counselling behaviour or completeness of documentation? Is the impact on documentation quality measurable? What are the barriers to adoption?
The project is in early development, with an example snippet (suspected fetal macrosomia/LGA) attached here. Feedback from obstetric clinicians is sought to refine the format and prioritise subsequent topics.