Development and Implementation of a Birth Forecasting Tool to Optimize Resources in Obstetrical Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed-Methods Study.

ABSTRACT: Medical resource allocation is important to ensure availability of care, especially in challenging circumstances like a pandemic. In fields of unpredictable care demand such as obstetrics, forecasting may help manage scarce resources. The development, validation, and implementation of a regional birth forecasting tool to support obstetrical staff planning in the Utrecht region during the COVID-19 pandemic. We combined predicted birth dates retrieved from Saltro, a large regional primary care laboratory, with data from the Dutch national perinatal registry (Perined) and Statistics Netherlands for model development. We created and implemented an HTML tool visualizing these forecasts, which were discussed during the regional acute obstetric health care network meetings. Six months after imple

SUBMITTER: Joosse HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12373259 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature