Practice and Factors Influencing Partograph Utilization on the Delivery of nursing care: An analytical Cross – Sectional Study among Nurses in Singida, Tanzania

Abstract

Background Partograph is the graphic recording for labour management and monitoring of pregnant women in labour pain. The well-plotted data allow the nurse to recognize any abnormal conditions earlier and decide to employ proper actions to the particular pregnant mother in labour pain during the delivery of nursing care. However, its uses have been recommended by WHO among nurses around the globe but it is not fully utilized. This study aimed to determine the level of practice and factors influencing partograph utilization among nurses in Singida, Tanzania. Methods Analytical cross sectional study was conducted involving 150 nurses randomly selected from Sokoine health center and Singida Regional Referral Hospital in Singida municipality, Tanzania from January to February 2020. A self-administered structured questionnaire on partograph use to deliver maternal care among pregnant women was the main data collection tool. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software program version 23 was used for data entry, screening, processing, and analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in which findings were presented in tables. Results Out of 150 nurse midwives 58.7% (n = 88) were females. Only 38.7% (n = 58) of the study respondents had a high level of practice on the utilization of partograph during labour monitoring. Their levels of education were identified to be a protective factor because those who had University education were more times likely to practice using partograph when delivering care compared to other lower education levels (AOR = 16.757; 95%CI: 6.394; 43.915; p < 0.01). Also, their professional qualifications were discovered to be a protective factor because nurse officers and midwives officers were more times likely to practice using partograph as compared to other professional qualifications (AOR = 8.323; p = 0.004; 95%CI: 0.098; 0.642). Conclusion This study found that many nurses in Singida municipality had a low level of practice in utilizing partograph when delivering of health care among patients. Continuous and formal supportive supervisions and on job training at national and health facilities need to be emphasized and adhered to promote quality of health services by use of partograph and cost-effective maternal and newborns health.

Partograph use among skilled birth attendants in selected counties, Western Kenya

“…The use of partograph was associated with significantly lower odds among female nurses-midwives compared to male nurse-midwives. The present finding is similar to that in Tanzania where female nurses had reduced odds of partograph use and male nurses had a high level of use of partographs compared to female nurses (48.4% vs 31.8%) (Peter et al, 2020). However, in Ethiopia, use of partograph was high among male than female nurses (84.1% vs 82%) but female nurses were two-folds more likely to use partograph than male nurses (Gebreslassie et al, 2017).…”

“…For example, in Bomet County, only about a quarter of the partographs were completed (Sigei, 2019) while only 44.5% were completed in Embu County (Githae et al, 2019). Also, the finding is consistent with those in the neighbouring countries of Tanzania (38.7%) (Peter et al, 2020) and Congo (43.4%) (Mwembo-Tambwe et al, 2020), but slightly lower than the 60% in Ethiopia (Ayenew and Zewdu, 2020). The use of partograph has been noted to be time-consuming (Githae et al, 2019) and complex (Lavender et al, 2011).…”

“…In the present study, almost all nurses had been recently trained on BEmONC which could be attributed to the absence of association between levels of knowledge, education, years of experience and training with the use of partograph. Other studies have found the use of partograph to be associated with the level of education (Peter et al, 2020), health professional cadre (Peter et al, 2020), and knowledge of partograph (Githae et al, 2019;Sigei, 2019;Maina et al, 2017). However, even in these studies, good knowledge of partograph did not necessarily translate to its use indicating that the use of partograph could be associated with other unmeasured parameters such as attitude, availability of equipment, workload and number of staff, which have previously been identified as possible reasons for poor partograph use in Kenya (Muthusi et al, 2019).…”

Enhancing safe motherhood: Effect of novel partograph on labor outcomes and its utility: An Indian perspective

“…Peter et al . [ 27 ] did study on 150 nurses to find the utilization of partograph in Tanzania hospital. Low utilization was observed in 61.3% of the nurses whereas 38.7% had high utilization.…”