ACOG reinventing the Pregnancy Wheel
HPV vaccination rates for teenage girls have been highest in the nation’s poorest communities and in predominantly Hispanic communities, according to a new study led by researchers at Temple University and Fox Chase Cancer Center.
Reinventing the wheel is nothing to brag about – unless it is the pregnancy wheel.
Also known as a gestation or due date calculator, the old-fashioned pregnancy wheel is a plastic rotating calendar that uses the pregnant woman's last menstrual period to estimate her due date. These days, there are numerous smartphone applications and online versions of the pregnancy wheel, some that will estimate other events, such as when the fetal heartbeat can first be heard.
Now, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is offering a new due date app, the first to be able to deal scientifically with a common dilemma: what to do when the first fetal ultrasound indicates a different due date than the date based on the last menstrual period. The new app can reconcile the discrepancy using the 2014 recommendations developed after a scientific literature review by ACOG, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.
Nathaniel DeNicola, an obstetrician-gynecologist and social media expert at the University of Pennsylvania, helped to develop the app, and called it "the most accurate tool available for ob-gyns and their staff."
Although the new due date calculator was designed with healthcare providers in mind, it has a "simple and straightforward format" that should be easy for patients to use. The new ACOG app can be downloaded for free from the Apple Store (for Iphone users) or Google Play (for Android users.)
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