Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on the Knowledge and Practice of Partograph among Nurse Midwives

Partograph is a graphical record used to monitor the progress of labour. It helps the caregiver to identify deviations from normal and make prompt decisions and interventions in treating complications related to labour. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends use of partograph to monitor all labour, still, it is not widely used in the developing world. Caregivers feel that completing the partograph is a time-consuming task. This study was undertaken with the aim to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge and practice of partograph among nurse midwives working in labour room of a tertiary hospital. Knowledge was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire and a checklist was used to assess the practice of partograph among 51 nurse midwives. It was found that 74.5% of nurse midwives had moderately adequate knowledge and 52.9% of the nurse midwives had adequate knowledge before and after the structured teaching programme respectively. In regard to practice of partograph it was found that 62.7% of them had inadequate practice before the structured teaching programme. After the teaching programme it was found that 52.9% of the nurse midwives had moderately adequate practice. Practice was assessed three months after the structured teaching programme and it was found that 58.8% of them had moderately adequate practice. While comparing the knowledge and the skill before and after the intervention it was found that there was significant increase in knowledge and practice among the nurse midwives. It was also found that there was no significant correlation between knowledge and practice and also there was no association between knowledge, practice and the selected demographic variables. The findings of this study revealed that constant reinforcement and support with supervision will enable the nurse midwives to practice partograph adequately.