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Thy article presents data about well-known Ukrainian physician, obstetrician-gynecologist, scientist, organizer, teacher prof. G. F. Pisemsky, his role in the development of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Professor Dragutin (Drago) Vrbanić, MD, PhD (1912 - 1996) was an eminent figure of Croatian medicine, especially in Rijeka and Istria. His work includes a number of publications and managerial accomplishments that encouraged the development of gynaecology and obstetrics. He can also be credited for the organisation and affirmation of midwifery in Rijeka. Professor Vrbanić was highly appreciated not only for his educational and scientific achievements, but also as a valuable mentor to younger colleagues, whom he encouraged to pursue their profession to the fullest.

This contribution explores the intertwining history of the obstetrician's hand and of (measurable) time. In a long-term historical perspective both on the metaphorical and practical role of the hand in obstetrical discourse and on the changing relation between continuous and discontinuous time, I come to the conclusion that the introduction of certain instruments into obstetrical practice around 1750 went hand in hand with an epistemological change regarding the conception of the living body and its time modes. The obstetrical forceps, which started its career together with male obstetrics and the introduction of the lying-in hospital as a new institution of giving birth, was instrumental in implementing practical and theoretical changes in dealing with the mother's and the child's bodies, which were by no mean beneficial for them.

In 17th century France, the practice of obstetrics passed from female midwives to medical men called accoucheurs. François Mauriceau, a prominent French obstetrician of the 17th century urged the need of an organised obstetrical education, emphasising anatomy. He invented the semi-recumbent or 'French' birthing position, the 'tire-tête' forceps, the 'Mauriceau manoeuvre' in breech delivery, and provided one of the first epidemiological analyses in obstetrics contributing enormously to the development of this specialty. His best-seller, Traité des maladies des femmes grosses revolutionised the practice of obstetrics.

Ljubica Bosner, MD (2 February 1902 - 21 October 1990) was a distinguished woman surgeon, who worked in Rijeka, and all over Croatia, including the posts in Ogulin, Bjelovar, Petrinja, and VaraŽdin, that are marginally known to wider medical circles and general public from her biography. Archive records point to her beginnings as a surgeon at the regional hospital of Ogulin in the 1930s, and then at the Department of Surgery and Gynaecology of the regional hospital and later state hospital of Bjelovar, where she had operated over the first two years of World War 2. From the end of 1942 to May 1943, she worked as a surgeon and the head of the hospital in Petrinja, and then as the head of the Soft Tissue Unit, Department of Surgery at Rebro Hospital in Zagreb until May 1945. She then headed the hospital in Mali Lošinj until 1946 and moved to the Sobol Brothers Hospital in Rijeka, where she worked until retirement. Ljubica Bosner was one of the few women who had spent all her working life in general surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, war surgery, and later paediatric surgery. Thousands of surgery records witness to her unrelenting dedication and high professionalism in regular as well as in emergency war situations. Her mentorship, loyalty to colleagues and medicine, social sensitivity and good will are still being recalled by her students.

This paper seeks to determine whether the man-midwives William Smellie and William Hunter deserve continuing approbation as 'Founding Fathers' of the obstetrics profession. Scrutiny of their careers reveals their involvement in murders for dissection. In addition, the man-midwifery initiative of delivery in lying-in hospitals resulted in around 1 million more deaths in Britain and Ireland between 1730 and 1930, than would have occurred had home-births remained as the norm. While some may still credit Smellie and Hunter with obstetric discoveries, their knowledge was obtained by murder-for-dissection. That indictment, together with the lying-in hospital legacy, far outweighs their discoveries. The paper invites further constructive discussion and debate, but concludes the accolade of Founding Fathers is undeserved. Any continuing endorsement of Smellie and Hunter effectively demeans the high ethical standards and reputation of current obstetric professionals.

This article describes the development of our collaborative practice, discusses the barriers and challenges presented by the current health care environment, and identifies factors that would encourage the initiation and strengthening of a successful collaborative model in similar settings. Successful collaborative practice is more than just a practice model, or a set of items that, once checked off, will guarantee success. It is a process that is inextricably linked to the focus and dedication of all our clinicians to provide the best care possible for women., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Collaboration among professional groups is essential for safe and efficient health care. Midwifery care is optimized when allowed to function independently within an integrated health care system of support to address complications should they arise. A formal process for collaboration facilitates a smooth, expedient flow of information and decision making in a time of need, maximizing safety and efficiency. This article describes a successful collaborative model among four midwives and one obstetrician that addresses the impending maternity health care provider shortage, the needs of vulnerable populations, and cost-efficiency through appropriate use of technology and choice of health care provider., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Data about formation and development of the system of delivery health and obstetric-gynecologic care in the Russian army since 19th century is represented in this article. Special attention is paid to delivery of care during the conduct of operations. A lot of archival documents are published for the first time. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Military Medical Academy made an outstanding contribution to development of military gynecology.

If it is possible to speak about the goals of an essay at all, this essay aims at reminding of a life story of a very prolific scientist and professor of Rijeka Faculty of Medicine, the gynecologist-obstetrician Lovro Mirošević, born in 1927 in Blato (the island of Korčula) and died in 2009 in Opatija. The author of the present essay had the privilege of knowing dr. Mirošević very well: the portrait thus is devoid of the pretension of objectivity.

This article contributes to the history of obstetrics as it was performed in the context of general practice during the 19th century. It focuses on the Swiss physician Cäsar Adolf Bloesch (1804-1863) from the town of Biel, Canton Bern. Drawing upon Bloesch's extensive practice records, it raises the question whether this physician participated in the local market for obstetrical activities. Furthermore, the paper tries to make an estimate about the importance this field of action took for Bloesch's practice. To achieve this, results of a smaller study about obstetrical cases within the practice records during the years 1832 to 1850 are being presented.I will argue that physicians like Bloesch were aware of the problems obstetrics brought with it, and as a consequence, he tried to limit it in favor of his general practice.

Between September 1752 and July 1753, Wouter van Doeveren, a student of Gaubius, Albinus and Winter at Leyden University, studied, together with a couple of friends at various Paris hospitals in order to improve his skills in the fields of surgery and obstetrics. After his return to Leyden, he took his doctor's degree in medicine and started his practice in that town. In 1754 he was appointed professor of medicine at Groningen University. In 1770 he was appointed professor of theoretical and practical medicine at Leyden University. He held that office until his death on 31 December 1783. He was a most appreciated foreign member of the Société Royale de Médecine (Paris) and of the Royal Society of Medicine (Edinburgh). He succeeded in improving his medical skills, by doing thorough research in the fields of pathological anatomy and teratology. He laid the foundations for national healthcare regulations for the United Provinces.

The paper focuses on the structure of the obstetric market in a rural region of alpine South Tyrol (today: Italy) throughout the 1860s. Besides midwives and parturient women, also male obstetricians are traceable in the actual research area of the Tauferer Ahrntal. Among them was the general practitioner Dr. Franz von Ottenthal, whose medical records (Historiae Morborum, 1847-1899) are used to reconstruct the participation of physicians in the obstetric market. Special emphasis lies on the evaluation of the predominant hierarchies (midwives/surgeons/physicians) and the position of Franz von Ottenthal in this specialized medical sub-segment. Therefore, the quantitative extent of obstetric intervention as well as the qualitative dimension of treatments (medication, surgeries) is investigated. So far, the relevance of Ottenthals obstetric practice as to the gender ratio has been measured as rather high, considering that he generally treated more female than male patients. An attempt will be made to estimate the significance of the obstetric segment within his practice in order to find an explanatory approach for the higher female medical demand.

A fifteenth-century Dutch manuscript entitled Der vrouwen heimelijcheit (Secrets of women) presents medieval knowledge on gynaecology and obstetrics in the form of an educational poem. Practical knowledge of women's physiology is combined with what we now consider to be superstition. It mentions, for example, that menstruating women often suffer from headaches and back pain, but also that they should not look in the mirror during their periods because it might get stained. The development of the unborn child is discussed and there are instructions for midwives on how to act in case of a difficult birth, e.g. when the child has a very big head, when the child is in the breech position or when an arm or a foot comes out first. The author also explains how to evoke abortion, but changes the subject quickly, because abortion was a sin. A recent edition including an English introduction and translation makes this text available for a broad audience.

On 12 May 1857, Edward Sieveking read a paper on epilepsy to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society in London. During the discussion that followed Sir Charles Locock, obstetrician to Queen Victoria, was reported to have commented that during the past 14 months he had used potassium bromide to successfully stop epileptic seizures in all but one of 14 or 15 women with 'hysterical' or catamenial epilepsy. This report of Locock's comment has generally given him credit for introducing the first reasonably effective antiepileptic drug into medical practice. However examination of the original reports raises questions as to how soundly based the accounts of Locock's comments were. Subsequently, others using the drug to treat epilepsy failed to obtain the degree of benefit that the reports of Locock's comments would have led them to expect. The drug might not have come into more widespread use as a result, had not Samuel Wilks provided good, independent evidence for the drug's antiepileptic efficacy in 1861.

Virginia Apgar (1909-1974), born in New Jersey, managed to continue medical school despite the financial crisis of 1929, continued for a brief time in surgery and subsequently became one of the first specialists in anaesthesiology. In 1949 she was appointed to a professorship, the first woman to reach this rank at Columbia University in New York. She then dedicated herself to obstetric anaesthesiology and devised the well known scale for the initial assessment of newborn babies, according to 5 criteria. From 1959 she worked for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now March of Dimes), to expand its activities from prevention of poliomyelitis to other aspects of preventive child care, such as rubella vaccination and testing for rhesus antagonism. She remained single; in her private life she enjoyed fly fishing, took lessons in aviation and was an accomplished violinist.

Already in the beginning of XX century the traditional healing among Vainakhs consisted ofsynthesis of rational and religious magic methods, especially in obstetrics and healing of children. Some of these methods survived in time and even nowadays keep their medical hygienic significance. Nevertheless, a lot in traditional healing of Vainakhs, the rite side in particular has today only a historical value.