Role of Nurse in Midwifery and Obstetrical Care
3/12/2024 5:25:00 AM Future Group of Institutions Bareilly
A midwife is defined as an individual who has successfully completed a midwifery education program recognized by the country where it is located and has secured the required qualifications to be registered and or legally licensed to practice midwifery.
The modern midwife is a term member who serves in an obstetric unit. The term includes an obstetrician, a midwife, an anesthetist and pediatrician.
A midwife provide care to a women and her family in all crucial time such as preconception care, care during antenatal, intranatal as well as postnatal period.
During Antenatal Period
Antenatal visit are done by midwife in the community area.
Health history, obstetric history is taken by midwife and physical examination is carried out.
Various tests are also performed along with the abdominal examination and record is kept for further visit also.
The midwife should remember that mother is an individual with her own attitudes and traditional beliefs that affect her opinions an ideas concerning child bearing and rearing.
The midwifes prenatal care duties include examination of pregnant women, supervision and education of pregnant women, identification of high-risk mothers, referral of high –mothers to a hospital, training of student at different levels, and supervision of co-workers.
During Intranatal Period
Her duties during labor are assurance and comfort to the patient, observation, abdominal and vaginal examination, recording of expectant mothers’ progress, delivery of child, postpartum supervision and care, and provision of emergency treatment until the physician’s arrives.
Supportive care during childbirth is an old as human kind and has been a cornerstone of intrapartum practice for decades.
Researchers have postulated that supportive care during labor leads to positive outcomes by enhancing normal labor physiology and the mother’s childbirth experience.
During Postnatal Period
The overall aim of postpartum care is to detect health problems of the mothers and or baby at an early stage, to encourage breastfeeding and to give families a good start.
Role of the midwife is to prevent complications promote rapid restoration of the mothers health, provide family planning instructions, and provide health education to mother and family.
A midwife act as a counselor and teacher concerned with the whole women.
She teaches women about reproductive health and successful motherhood.
She promotes adolescent health, family life education and family planning.
At the primary health care level, midwives must identify, train, supervise and support the needed number of health care workers.
Written By:
Dr. Charu Khanna
Professor
Future Institute of Medical Sciences, Bareilly