Obstetric wheel

I was on a website recently that was discussing reliability of obstetric wheels. It said that some are only made for marketing purposes and are not always reliable and that sometimes these wheels can have advertising for creditable organizations on them. I was quite shocked when I read this. Has anyone else looked into this or seen any literature on it.

There should some kind of regulation with these, after all they are used for confirming the due date. Rant over lol

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Student Spice

Well the EDD is 9 months and 7 days from the first day of the LMP so you don't really need to use the wheel to work this out. I know when using the wheel you need to be careful to take into account when it's a leap year. Otherwise, I've not heard anything about the reliability of the wheel.

never heard anything about this one-interesting though, we only use these hunongous metal ones, that looked like they're from the arc, or the nhs stop smoking ones, I'm assuming they are reliable, but they do hurt my eyes a wee bit, as they are so small aren't they?

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Ive not heard that but will have a look into it. We use them and they have always been reliable, well as reliable as due dates are lol

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StudentMidwife.NET Founder & Director

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
(George Eliot, 1860)

Add a year.. Take 3 months.. Add 7 days..

Find it easier to work out EDD that way then with a wheel.

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Duel X
3rd Year!
Moderator

Does this still work if you are indluding february which is a shorter month?

hi guys and the wheel only works if the woman has a regular cycle 28 days i think so if she doesnt its gonna be way off.

Leah xx

The main reasons why obstetric wheels can be inaccurate is to do with the width of individual days being varied (i.e. if they should be completely regular distance apart, but often are not) and the inner wheel not positioned absolutely centrally in relation to the outer wheel. This causes a distortion as you go round - so that that the length of pregnancy will vary according to the LMP, when it should remain the same (obviously). To guarantee that an obstetric wheel is accurate and fit for clinical use, it needs to be manufactured with attention to detail in the design and precision in the putting it together. Obstetric wheels produced as freebies for marketing purposes are obviously prime candidates for being 'dodgy' - since they are intended primarily to advertise and only secondarily as as clinical tools, but even seemingly reputable sources of wheels can be 'out'. Check out the information here -> http://www.jomoson4.co.uk/shop/index...&productId=484

Obviously, they are marketing a more expensive product (the Obdisk) but the warnings about inaccuracy of obstetric wheels make sense and the charts for checking your own wheels are free from their site.

I think it does yes.. hmmmm...

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Duel X
3rd Year!
Moderator

Well I did say I would look into it.......! I have been chatting for the past few days with Sally Lister who is an expert in Obstetric Wheels and a former Midwife. She is a pioneer of the obdisk and has given me consent to post the content of our discussions here. I have also been a bit cheeky and wangled us 10 FREE obdisks, Sally is very kindly donating them to StudentMidwife.Net as she feels very passionately about raising awareness about the inaccuracy of obsteric wheels.

I would like to say many thanks to Sally for her pioneering work and for the donation of 10 obdisks.

I have amalgamated the majority of the content of the converations, and I hand you over to Sally....

I'd be very happy for you to quote me on your site, either by editing my
emails or by publishing it in full, whichever you prefer.

It will be very interesting to hear what Student Midwives think, especially
after they've checked their own obstetric wheels, and the ones that are
being used in the maternity units, the community etc. - against my
'12/24/40 Week Accuracy Test with disclaimer'.

To be honest, a shiver went down my spine when I checked half a dozen
obstetric calculators that I'd collected, but never removed from their packets before.

That was on June 13th, and since then I've been trying to raise awareness wherever I can.

I'm personally trying to warn midwives and students about: the fact that many of the obstetric wheels that are being used in the UK - at this very minute - are considerably inaccurate, especially around the vital 24 week area. Many midwives and students assume that obstetric wheels are accurate, and use them as though they are. I know that it sounds sad, but I collect obstetric wheels, and have some that are 3,4,5 and 6 days out at 24 weeks. Some of the examples in my collection have only 5 days in their first week, some have other interesting design features (eg unequal days), and some have wobbly top discs (which means that the readings are inconsistent). All of these are being used by UK midwives today.

I've published images on the internet, so that midwives and students become aware of what to look out for. (Some of the examples have the logo of the NHS on them.) I've also devised the "12/24/40 Week Accuracy Test with disclaimer", which anyone can use to check their own obstetric wheel. And "Obstetric wheels: Clinical tools? Or just marketing tools?" is my own opinion on the matter. I believe that if they are used in decision-making then they are clinical tools, and as such, there should be a minimum standard for professional use.

We have another quick and simple test, the '40 Week Accuracy Test with
disclaimer', which gives the calculation of the EDD at 280 days after the
LMP date.

This can also be used to check the accuracy of obstetric wheels.
If you add 9 calendar months and 7 days to the LMP, it often doesn't work
out at 280 days after the LMP:

www.jomoson4.co.uk/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=404
(9 months plus 7 days is only a very rough guide.)

And here is a link to much more information:

http://www.jomoson4.co.uk/shop/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=21

Please email if you have any questions at all - I now have an extensive
knowledge about obstetric wheels, due to my own personal interest.

Everything is easily found on a Google search, and my aim is to encourage
intelligent debate, as different people have different opinions on the
matter.

Best wishes, Merry Christmas, Sally Lister - former midwife.
(Jomoson4 Online)

To win one of the Obdisks look out for a special announcement over the next few days.....

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StudentMidwife.NET Founder & Director

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
(George Eliot, 1860)