During the initial pregnancy confirmation appointment typically with a General Practitioner a referral is made for blood group testing, confirming the woman’s blood group, rhesus factor and red cell antibody …show more content…
Pre-eclampsia presents after 20 weeks’ gestation as hypertension with proteinuria, effecting multiple systems, whilst superimposed pre-eclampsia is the development of systemic features of pre-eclampsia in a woman with chronic hypertension (AHMAC, 2014; Robson et al., 2014). Women should be advised to seek medical advice if experiencing headache, visual disturbance, epigastric pain, vomiting and/ or oedema of the face, hands or feet (AHMAC, 2014). A diagnosis of pre-eclampsia requires referral to hospital admission, further investigation, assessment of foetal health and development whilst commencing an appropriate drug therapy according to the severity of the pre-eclampsia (Robson et al., 2014). Allowing for the increased risks associated with hypertensive disorders all women should receive regular blood pressure monitoring throughout pregnancy to identify any significant change (AHMAC,