Local facilities
Following diagnosis of IUFD, 8 (17.4%) institutions usually admit the woman to hospital for induction of labour (IOL) straight after diagnosis. 12 (26.1%) departments usually admit the woman on the following day, 3 (6.5%) on the following day or the day after and 4 (8.7%) departments would admit the woman after two days, as long as the woman is clinically stable. 19 (41.3%) institutions would place the decision regarding time of admission upon the woman’s preferences. Interestingly, those institutions who kept the woman hospitalised straight after diagnosis of fetal death were more likely to perform maternal tests to rule out bleeding disorders, such as thrombophilia (p =0.03) and a Kleihauer test (p =0.049), yet also replied they considered a lack of a national guideline regarding post-mortem work-up after IUFD in Austria (p =0.026).
All but one institution offer professional psychological support to affected parents whilst hospitalised and 9 (19.6%) departments also arrange psychological follow-up consultations as an out-patient.
In 21 (45.7%) participating institutions, a local pathology department is on site, whilst the majority of participating hospitals (n=25; 54.3%) have none. Presence of a local pathology was found to be strongly correlated with the type of the institution (p =0.003) and therefore also annual live birth rates (p =0.039). Furthermore institutions with an integrated department of pathology would perform more often fetal genetic tests after IUFD (p =0.017).