Midwives' perceptions of women's mobile phone use and impact on care in birth suite.

BACKGROUND: Women's use of mobile phones while in birth suite has been recognised as a common occurrence. However, no evidence has been reported around midwives' perceptions of how women's mobile phone use impacts midwifery care in birth suite. OBJECTIVE: To explore midwives' perceptions of women's mobile phone use and impact on care in the labour and birth environment. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive study was undertaken. Transcriptions from focus groups were subjected to thematic analysis. FINDINGS: Ten focus groups involving 63 Australian midwives were conducted. Four key themes and corresponding subthemes were identified: 'considering consent' which encompassed the subthemes 'establishing boundaries' and 'taken by surprise'; 'competing with the phone' encompassing 'missing the experience' and 'delaying care'; 'being with woman' encompassing 'affecting relationships' and 'not my right to deny'; and finally 'bringing others into the room' with subthemes of 'keeping in touch' and 'seeking a second opinion'. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to explore midwives perceptions of women's mobile phone use and the impact on a midwife's ability to provide care in birth suite. Findings suggest that women's mobile phone use can influence the relationship between the midwife and the woman and contributes to delays in providing care. Midwives shared how they experienced tensions around their right to grant permission for their image to be recorded. Finally, mobile phones have allowed others not present in the birth suite to access women and influence their decision making. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: It is widely recognised women are bringing their mobile phones into the labour and birth environment. Therefore, it is important we explore midwives perceptions around the tensions and concerns that exist, so they can be addressed.

Outcomes by birth setting and caregiver for low risk women in Indonesia: a systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND: Care for women during pregnancy, labour, birth and the postpartum period is essential to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, however the ideal place and organisation of care provision has not been established. The World Health Organization recommends a two-tier maternity care system involving first-level care in community facilities, with backup obstetric hospital care. However, evidence from high-income countries is increasingly showing benefits for low risk women birthing outside of hospital with skilled birth assistance and access to backup care, including lower rates of intervention. Indonesia is a lower middle-income country with a network of village based midwives who attend births at homes, clinics and hospitals, and has reduced mortality rates in recent decades while maintaining largely low rates of intervention. However, the country has not met its neonatal or maternal mortality reduction goals, and it is unclear whether greater improvements could be made if all women birthed in hospital. BODY: This paper reviewed the literature on birth outcomes by place of birth and/or caregiver for women considering their risk of complications in Indonesia. A systematic literature search of Pubmed, CINAHL, CENTRAL, Web of Science, Popline, WHOLIS and clinical trials registers in 2016 and updated in 2018 resulted in screening 2211 studies after removing duplicates. Twenty four studies were found to present outcomes by place of birth or caregiver and were included. The studies were varied in their findings with respect of the outcomes for women birthing at home and in hospital, with and without skilled care. The quality of most studies was rated as poor or moderate using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool. Only one study gave an overall assessment of the risk status of the women included, making it impossible to draw conclusions about outcomes for low risk women specifically; other studies adjusted for various individual risk factors. CONCLUSION: From the studies in this review, it is impossible to assess the outcomes for low risk women birthing with health professionals within and outside of Indonesian hospitals. This finding is supported by reviews from other countries with developing maternity systems. Better evidence and information is needed before determinations can be made about whether attended birth outside of hospitals is a safe option for low risk women outside of high income countries.