Effect of using Paperless Partogram on the Management and Outcome of Labour and the Nurses' Opinion

Abstract

The paperless partogram refers to monitoring progress of labour and arriving at an accurate decision for intervention to ensure safe delivery. It needs no graph paper, no extra time to do it and uses the routine that the nurses are already used to. The study aimed to evaluate effect of using paperless partogram on the management and outcome of labor and to assess nurses' opinion about using it. Setting: Labor ward at Maternity Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University, Egypt. Subjects: Purposive sample of 100 women who met the criteria of; gestational age from 37 to 42 weeks, singleton pregnancy and with cephalic presentation. The data were collected by using the paperless partogram model. Results: Mean age of the participants was 25.6 years and mean of gestational age 39.1 weeks and 87% were multipara. Mean Apgar score of the new-born after 5 minutes was 9.4. Mean duration for delivery after Alert ETD was 3.5 ±2.1 hours in primigravida and 3.3 ±2.1 hours in multipara. Also 76.7% of nurses prefer new partogram over traditional one. Conclusion: Paperless partogram was found to be effective positively on the management and outcome of labor and the nurses prefers it over traditional partogram.

Keywords: Management of labor, paperless partogram, labor outcome, nurses.