Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit

The Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU) is a specialist area in Mater Mothers' Hospital (MMH) that deals specifically with problems in early pregnancy. The unit is located on level 7 of the new MMH.

Referring

To refer a woman to EPAU please call 07 3163 5132 or fax 07 3163 6120. A referral from a GP is not essential.

The service

The EPAU team consists of a nurse, a medical practitioner and a sonographer. A triage system will be used to offer the correct clinical pathway, depending on whether the woman is suffering bleeding and/or pain in early pregancy.

The EPAU sees women who have:

• a pregnancy of less than 20 weeks
• pain or vaginal bleeding, but are clinically stable
• no bleeding but with a nonviable pregnancy
• a confirmed stable ectopic pregnancy to be treated conservatively
• a pregnancy of unknown location, stable and requiring follow-up.

Unfortunately, the EPAU will not see women who:

• are more than 20 weeks completed gestation
• are haemodynamically unstable/heavy bleeding (takes less that 30 min to soak a pad)
• experiencing pain that exceeds normal period pain and is unrelieved by simple analgesia
• have a pulse rate >100, any postural drop
• need a routine pregnancy confirmation
• need a routine pregnancy dating scan
• are experiencing nausea and vomiting in pregnancy
• are presenting with other acute gynaecological conditions or other medical/surgical conditions in early pregnancy
• cannot reasonably comprehend English
• are unhappy to return to hospital on another occasion for EPAU assessment.

Women should be given the option of attending an Emergency Department to be seen immediately or EPAU for the first available appointment.

If women choose the EPAU, and experience bleeding or pain increase (<30 min to soak a pad and pain not relieved by simple analgesia), advise them to attend sooner than the appointment.