Optimal clinical parameters for Odon Device use
The Odon Device was able to successfully assist births in all fetal
positions. The midwives were particularly positive about the way the
device could deliver a baby in the occipito-posterior position.
M9: ‘I think, probably, it could be quite universal as an
instrumental device. It didn’t seem to matter whether the baby was OA or
OP…’
As experience with the device increased, it became apparent that the
device could be used comfortably without a regional anaesthetic and it
repeatedly reported to be better tolerated than bladder emptying by
urethral catheterisation:
D2: ‘She actually found the catheterisation more uncomfortable
than putting on the Odon Device with no analgesia at all.’
Conversely it became apparent that for women with fetal station at
spines or a more complex presentation (such as brow or nuchal arm) the
device was less likely to be successful:
D3: ‘On examination, baby’s head was asynclitic, deflexed, occiput
lateral, at the spines… in the future, I wouldn’t apply that, and
I would tentatively think about Kiellands but I suspect I wouldn’t have
been able to apply Kiellands and she’d have had a section anyway.’[unsuccessful Odon-emergency Caesarean section]D1: ‘So, it was direct OP at the spines, and it was almost coming
to a brow, I could feel the orbital ridges…I was thinking, “Oh,
I’m really not sure that this is going to work.”…I didn’t feel
that wasn’t a failed Odon, that was a baby that was never going to come
out vaginally.’ [unsuccessful Odon-failed rotational forceps,
emergency Caesarean section]
It was observed that the qualitative interviews that enabled the
operators to reflect on their most recent births and in some cases led
to re-simulation of the birth they had just performed to try and
understand why the device may have been unsuccessful.