This chapter includes key points, essentials of midwifery care, professional accountability, and links to further resources regarding breech birth, domestic abuse, maternal deterioration, maternal ...obesity, and sepsis. The number of breech presentation babies born vaginally has dwindled significantly in recent years and particularly coincided with the increasing use of ultrasound, electronic fetal heart rate monitoring and a rapid rise in caesarean section rates. The term breech trial concluded that caesarean section was the safest mode of delivery for breech babies. One of the recent reports state that the early identification of pregnant and postnatal women whose medical condition is deteriorating, along with rapid actions to diagnose and treat them, will save lives. This highlights the importance of routine measurements such as pulse, temperature, respiratory rate and blood pressure. Midwives are at the forefront of maternity care and as such a deteriorating woman will usually present first to a midwife.
This chapter includes key points, essentials of midwifery care, professional accountability, and links to further resources related to labour and birth. Provision of support during labour and ...childbirth is recognised internationally and nationally as a core role of the midwife. It is central to a midwife's role to ensure that, prior to labour onset, women receive good education, particularly about the latent phase of labour. Promoting normality is often considered central to a midwife's role during labour and birth. It is also important to listen to and understand a woman's preferences for pain relief during labour and to support her in her choices. The aim of non‐pharmacological analgesia is to help women cope with pain during labour, as opposed to pharmacological analgesia, which aims to relieve the pain of labour. Most women will begin labour with their baby in an occipito‐anterior (OA) position, often considered to be the optimal position for labour and delivery.
Research suggests that comfort is more than the absence of pain and that its presence may prove to be beneficial for individuals seeking care. This chapter provides a theoretical perspective on the ...idea of providing comfort to support normal pregnancy and birth to help clinicians provide support to women during this important time in their lives. Comfort is not a new concept in health care and is commonly referred to as a component of the art of nursing. Katherine Kolcaba's theory of comfort is bi‐dimensional and includes technical senses as one dimension and contexts of experience as the second dimension. The three technical senses of comfort are (i) relief, (ii) ease, and (iii) transcendence. These three technical senses are derived from etymological and conceptual analysis and represent the first dimension of comfort. Comfort theory has the potential to be helpful in developing evidence‐based guidelines for caring for women during childbirth.
What Makes a Good Midwife? Nicholls, Lynn; Webb, Christine
Reviewing Research Evidence for Nursing Practice,
01/2007
Book Chapter
This chapter contains section titled:
Introduction
Background
Overview of the Review
Methodological Issues in the Included Studies
Summary of Review findings
Issues Arising from the Review Process
...Conclusion
References
This chapter contains section titled:
Evaluative methods
Evaluative criteria
Support in innovative midwifery care
Supportive midwifery care at discrete points in the childbearing cycle
Conclusion
This chapter contains sections titled:
Pre‐conception Care
Antenatal Care
Intrapartum Care
Postnatal Care
General Considerations
Emergency Management
Preventing Maternal Mortality
Patient ...Organisations and Essential Reading
This chapter contains sections titled:
Introduction
Developments informing contemporary postnatal care
Maternal physical and psychological morbidity
Could postnatal care be revised to enhance ...maternal health?
Implications of policy and practice developments on contemporary postnatal care
Time bands for provision and content of care
Planning the content and delivery of care
Maternal morbidity
Infant feeding
Competencies to undertake postnatal care
Priorities and challenges facing contemporary postnatal care
The international perspective
References
