PAINLESS DELIVERY

KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF OBSTETRICIANS AND MIDWIVES

Abstract

One of the most severe pain that a woman experiences in her lifetime is labor
pain which leads to increase their desire to perform caesarean section. In the present study we
assessed the attitudes and awareness of obstetricians and midwives by raising their knowledge
and skills, to increase the rate of vaginal delivery and reduce the cesarean. Methods: Study
Design: Qualitative study. Setting: Obstetricians and Midwives from throughout the Shiraz
City, South of Iran, were participated by completing the questionnaire. Period: 6 months in
2015. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS software, version 20.0. The results
were presented as frequency (percentage). Results: 118 individuals including 25 (21%)
Obstetricians and 93 (79%) Midwives were participated in the current study. Both obstetricians
and midwives preferred normal vaginal delivery (NVD) (83.9%). 91% of subjects believed that
the reason of preference of NVD is the safety of mother and child. 34.7% of individuals was
fully aware of painless labor. 21.2% had average information. Most of the subjects was agreed
with the painless labor method (92.4%) and 4.2% was disagreed. Lack of pain and calmness
during labor (62.2%) and reduction of fear of natural childbirth (50.5%) were the main reasons
of agreements. 85.2% of obstetrics and midwives believed that the number of painless labor in
Iran in comparison to international standards is less than desired. Conclusions: Although the
majority of obstetricians and midwives were agreed with the painless labor in hospitals, almost
half of them were aware of the painless delivery. Raising the knowledge of health care providers
about painless delivery can influence on awareness and attitude of them and parturient toward
normal vaginal delivery.