The partograph: A labour management tool or a midwifery record?

Abstract

A partograph is a graphical presentation of a woman's progress of labour. Once the woman has true signs of labour, the midwife initiates the use of the partograph to record her findings. The partograph was endorsed and modified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) between 1990 and 2000 to monitor the fetal and maternal wellbeing during the active stage of labour. Monitoring help the midwives and the mother in achieving spontaneous vaginal delivery with low risk of both morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, accurate partograph recordkeeping enables an effective communication between healthcare professionals who manage women in labour. Documentation and recordkeeping have always been integral to midwifery practice and continue to be so. The aim of the study was to establish the perception of the use of the partograph by midwives, and to establish and describe the factors that contribute to the underutilization of the partograph by midwives during the management of labour. The context of the study was an Academic Hospital and a Midwifery seminar, Gauteng Province, South Africa. A cross-sectional descriptive quantitative study was conducted. Sampling was purposeful. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The findings revealed that midwives understood the importance of the use of the partograph but do not effectively use it due to a number of factors.

Level of Partograph completion and healthcare workers’ perspectives on its use in Mulago National Referral and teaching hospital, Kampala, Uganda

“…Similarly, a study in Rujumbura Health sub-district in Southern Western, Uganda found that the various health centers had sufficient numbers of the Partographs although their utilization was low [15]. However, other sites have documented unavailability as a problem for example in Central Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa [12, 18, 28]. In our study, the unavailability of Partograph may be due to the high patient numbers served by the hospital, and/or the adequacy of the hospital stationery supply system.…”

Partograph initiation and completion: a criteria-based audit study in Uganda

“…It has been noted that the partograph is not used to the required standards even in settings where a printed partograph is available (Bedwell et al, 2017;Maphasha et al, 2017). A study conducted in South Africa (Mathibe-Neke et al, 2013) showed that most of the parameters recorded on a partograph were below average, ranging between 41% and 44%. In Uganda, a study to assess use of a partograph in Rukungiri district health centre showed that, although nearly 70% of deliveries had a partograph completed, fetal heart rate monitoring was performed in only 2% of the women (Ogwang et al, 2009).…”

Digital Scales of Web-Based Partograph in Detecting the Early Postpartum Bleeding

“…Thus, it can reduce the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR). The first partograph was introduced by Friedman in 1950, then developed and redesigned by Philpott and Puri in 1971 by adding the concept of warning and action lines (Archa Prem 2013; Gitanjali, 2016;Sinha, 2016;Opoku & Nguah, 2015;Akpan, 2014;Mathibe Neke & Matupa, 2013;Yisma,2013;Hasan, 2017;Fatouh & Ramadan, 2015;Suchika et al, 2014;Mandiwa & Zamawe, 2017;Nwaneri et al, 2017;Bedwell, Levin, Pett, & Lavender,2017;Zelellw, 2016;Okokon et al, 2014;Pusparinda, 2015;Markos & Bogale, 2015). used and managed properly, Thus it is necessary to develop the tool (Ashish, Wrammert, Clark, Ewald, & Malqvist, 2016).…”