A new pain management guideline to improve postpartum recovery through proactive nursing care is the latest development in enhanced care for birthing mothers.
The new guidelines, developed by Western Sydney Local Health District’s Associate Professors Marjan Khajehei and Beata Gidaszewski, assist women who need stiches in the perineal area as a result from childbirth.
Early routine treatment of icepacks and pain relief medication will now be offered by practitioners to improve the care women receive.
It is exciting to see the potential for a simple change in care practices to make a significant difference in women’s postpartum recovery.
Marjan Khajehei
Both women are passionate about improving care across the District and enhancing practitioners understanding of the role of pain management after childbirth.
“We now have evidence that this approach can make the experience of early motherhood much more comfortable for women, improving their overall wellbeing during this critical time,” Beata said.
The guidelines are founded on research into the importance of early and consistent pain management strategies for women with perineal trauma.
“This research underscores the importance of healthcare providers adopting proactive approaches to pain management and perineal care as essential components of postpartum care delivery,” Marjan said.
We can ensure women receive the support they need when they need it most. This approach benefits not just individual women but also has a positive impact on families and communities as a whole.
Beata Gidaszewski
Associate Professors Beata and Marjan will follow the implementation of the guidelines and collaborate with healthcare staff to maximise benefits for patients.
Read the full publication: Optimising recovery after perineal trauma: Implementation of an evidence-based patient-centred care and clinical practice guideline
WSLHD researchers publish more than 100 papers every month.
If you’re a WSLHD author, you can contact the district’s Digital Repository ‘DSpace’ to inform them of your published work: WSLHD-BlacktownHospitalLibrary@health.nsw.gov.au
The WSLHD Digital Repository is an open access, institutional repository managed by WSLHD Libraries. This repository stores and showcases the research output of staff and preserves a historical collection of archival material: https://wslhd.intersearch.com.au/wslhdjspui/
Read more about WSLHD authors and their most recent publications below and you can search for them by ‘author’ here: https://wslhd.intersearch.com.au/wslhdjspui/
Cummins, A., Eaves, T., Newnham, E., Melov, Sarah J., Hilsabeck, Carolyn, Baird, K., Prussing, E. and Pasupathy, Dharmintra. The continuity relationship makes caring for women with anxiety and depression easier, but it is also a heavy responsibility. Women and Birth. 2025; 38 (2):101886.
Davies, C., Baker, B., Berger, M. N., Knox, S. L., Mowbray, E., Stewart, B. G., Booy, R., Hacker, E., Marmol, A., Ross, C., Muller, D. A., Mortimore, A. M., Siller, G., Forster, A. H. and Skinner, S. R. Vaccine microarray patch self-administration: A preliminary study in adults 50 years of age and over. Vaccine. 2025; 126699.
Gauci, Julia L., Whitfield, Anthony M. and Bourke, Michael J. Piecemeal endoscopic mucosal resection is appropriate for the majority of large nonpedunculated polyps in the right colon. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2025; 00
Gupta, R., Fielder, T., Bal, M., Chiosea, S. I., Dahlstrom, J. E., Kakkar, A., Kiss, K., Laco, J., Mittal, N., Pasricha, S., Samra, Spinder, Zidar, N., Bullock, M., Chernock, R., Faquin, W. , Huang, S. H., Yang, J. and Yoon, S. O. International consensus recommendations of diagnostic criteria and terminologies for extranodal extension in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: An HN CLEAR Initiative (Update 1). Head and Neck Pathology. 2025; 19 (1):20.
Ho, Kwok M., Ananthan, Prakkash and Morgan, David J. R. Association between the initiation of loop diuretics and changes in 2-hour creatinine clearance in critically ill patients. Renal Failure. 2025; 47 (1):2457514.
Hua, D., Petrina, N., Sacks, A. J., Young, Noel, Cho, Jin-Gun, Smith, R. and Poon, Simon K. Towards human-AI collaboration in radiology: a multidimensional evaluation of the acceptability of AI for chest radiograph analysis in supporting pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis. JAMIA Open. 2025; 8 (1):ooae151.
Lo, S. N., Varey, Alexander H. R., Ch’ng, S., Scolyer, R. A. and Thompson, J. F. Response to Han andLliu. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2025; 00
Luckett, T., Swan, F., Clark, J., Roberts, Mary M., Pearson, M., Hutchinson, A., Currow, D., Kochovska, S., Crooks, M., Smith, T. and Johnson, M. ERS guideline recommendation on airflow for breathlessness: the pitfalls of applying GRADE evidence ratings to complex non-pharmacological interventions. The European Respiratory Journal. 2025; 65 (2):2402244.
McDonagh, Julee, Lindley, Richard I., Byth, Karen, John, Reejamol and Ferguson, Caleb. Frailty in older adults admitted to hospital: outcomes from the Western Sydney Clinical Frailty Registry. BMC Geriatrics. 2025; 25 (1):78.
Ramachandran, M. S., Sandaradura, I. and Nayyar, Vineet. Prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms in intensive care unit patients and rate of subsequent bacteraemia: a 5-year study. Anaesthesiology Intensive Therapy. 2024; 56 (5):277-284.
Smith, Tracy A., Roberts, Mary M., Luckett, T., Cho, Jin-Gun, Kirby, A. and Wheatley, John R. A multidisciplinary, non-pharmacologic intervention improves breathlessness in COPD: An RCT. European Respiratory Journal. 2024; 64 (Supplement 68):OA5542.
Tchan, Michel, Lehman, A., van Dussen, L., Langendonk, J. G., Janssen, M. C. H., Langeveld, M., Murphy, E., Ryder, B., Glamuzina, E., Merkel, M., Sechi, A., Arnoux, J. B., Mochel, F., Alkemade, G., Maillot, F., Kaphan, E., Mazodier, K., Thomas, Q., Leguy-Seguin, V. and Marelli, C. The frequencies of different inborn errors of metabolism in adult metabolic centres: 10 years later, another report from the SSIEM Adult Metabolic Physicians Group. Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease. 2025; 48 (2):e70005.
Wang, Heng, Fan, K., Jia, X., Zhang, R., Dong, H. and Zheng, Guoping. Comment on “Pathogenesis-guided rational engineering of nanotherapies for the targeted treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm by inhibiting neutrophilic inflammation”. ACS Nano. 2025; 19 (2):1861-1864.
White, L. D., Vlok, R. A., Thang, C. Y. C., Tian, David H. and Melhuish, T. M. Oxygenation during the apnoeic phase preceding intubation in adults in prehospital, emergency department, intensive care and operating theatre environments. Anesthesie et Reanimation. 2025; 00
Yoon, C. H., Ross, M. I., Gastman, B. R., Luke, J. J., Ascierto, P. A., Long, G. V., Rutkowski, P. , Khattak, M. , Del Vecchio, M. , de la Cruz, M. L., Mackiewicz, J. , Chiarion-Sileni, V. , Schadendorf, D. , Carlino, Matteo S., Zhao, Y. , Fukunaga-Kalabis, M. , Krepler, C. , Eggermont, A. M. M., Gershenwald, J. E. and Sondak, V. K. Adjuvant pembrolizumab in stage II melanoma: Outcomes by primary tumor location in the randomized, double-blind, Phase III KEYNOTE-716 Trial. Annals of Surgical Oncology. 2025; 00
Zhang, R., Chang, R., Wang, Heng, Chen, J., Lu, C., Fan, K., Zhang, Y., Li, L., Yan, S. and Dong, H. Untargeted metabolomic and proteomic analysis implicates SIRT2 as a novel therapeutic target for diabetic nephropathy. Scientific Reports. 2025; 15 (1):4236.
Zhou, Yehuan, Thomas, Stuart P. and Qian, Pierre C. Pulsed-field-ablation for atrial fibrillation in a patient with left atrial appendage occlusion device. Heart Lung and Circulation. 2025; 00
Zhu, Yue, Forsman, Lina Davies, Chen, Cheng, Zhang, Haoyue, Shao, Ge, Wang, Sainan, Wang, Shanshan, Xiong, Haiyan, Bruchfeld, Judith, Wang, Weibing, Zhu, Limei, Alffenaar, Jan-Willem C. and Hu, Yi. Drug exposure and treatment outcomes in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus: A multicenter prospective cohort study from china. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. 2024; 79 (2):524-533.