Tech Tuesday: Dr. Cassidy Augustinovich developed an improved obstetric drape to help new mothers and their medical providers

Dr. Cassidy Augustinovich, a third-year obstetrics and gynecology resident at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, has developed an under-buttocks drape for use during labor and delivery in childbirth with an additional flap for the containment of feces (see invention UA23-112 on the TLA Inventions website). 

Augustinovich developed the improved drape as part of a research project during her residency. She came up with the idea during her intern year when she performed hundreds of vaginal deliveries. She noticed that bowel movements during delivery were common and that the mothers were often embarrassed and apologetic. Additionally, Augustinovich noticed that these bowel movements can create distractions for medical providers. 

“As a provider, you work close-up with your patients and delivering babies is not the time for personal space,” she said. “We frequently rely on other staff to clean the area of bowel movements, usually multiple times, prior to delivery. We never want patients to feel self-conscious or concerned about anything other than meeting their baby but when they overhear requests for wipes, it can become a focus. It started with putting a towel over the area. And then one day I thought, ‘I wonder why this isn’t on the drape itself?’”

The drape she designed includes a flap that is one-size-fits-all, with an adhesive lining at the top that allows for adhesion to the patient’s perineum and across the back of the patient’s thighs. Located inferior to the vaginal introitus, the flap creates a sealed barrier between the sterile field and any defecation, ensuring that the infant will not encounter fecal matter while avoiding interference with the delivery of the infant. Augustinovich recently created a prototype of the drape alongside Dr. Ravi Goyal, the vice chair of research in obstetrics and gynecology at the U of A.

After earning her undergraduate degree in physiology at the U of A, Augustinovich attended medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University. While applying for residencies and working clinical rotations during her third year, she scheduled obstetrics and gynecology as her final rotation because it was the field she was least interested in pursuing. To her surprise, she developed an affinity for the practice and, after completing sub-internships in both anesthesiology and OB/GYN, decided to focus on the latter as a resident at the U of A.

After she graduates, Augustinovich wants to practice as a general OB/GYN. She says that part of the appeal of becoming an OB/GYN is that it will allow her to have long, continuous relationships with her patients. “You can follow them along all these different stages of life and have a relationship with patients that I think most doctors don’t ever get to have,” she said.