Supporting labor progress toward physiologic birth

Relationships Among Individual and Hospital Characteristics and Self-Efficacy in Labor Support Among Intrapartum Nurses in Texas

OBJECTIVE

To explore the relationships among individual and workplace characteristics and self-efficacy in labor support among intrapartum nurses.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey.

SETTING

Online distribution from April to August 2020.

PARTICIPANTS

Members of the Texas section of the Association for Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (N = 106).

METHODS

I conducted descriptive analysis on individual and workplace characteristics, including scores on the Self-Efficacy Labor Support Scale. I conducted backward stepwise multivariate linear regression to assess the factors associated with self-efficacy in providing labor support.

RESULTS

Years as an intrapartum nurse had a positive association with self-efficacy in labor support. Experience with open-glottis pushing, the overall cesarean birth rate, and the use of upright positioning during labor and birth were also positively associated with self-efficacy in labor support. Conversely, lack of recognition by providers was negatively associated with self-efficacy in labor support.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that modifiable factors at the individual and hospital levels are associated with nurses' self-efficacy in labor support. Hospitals must work to engage in obstetric practices that are congruent with providing labor support, including the use of experienced nurses to mentor new nurses and the creation of a unit culture to reinforce the intent of individual nurses to provide labor support.

Intrapartum Nurse Perception of Labor Support After Implementation of the Coping With Labor Algorithm

The purpose of this research project was to determine if using the Coping with Labor Algorithm would lead to changes in the perception of the intrapartum (IP) nurses' beliefs toward birth practices and frequency of labor support interventions. Twenty-three participants completed the preintervention survey, which included the IP Nurses' Belief Toward Birth Practice Scale and the Labor Support Scale. Following completion of the preintervention survey, participants received a copy of the Coping with Labor Algorithm and Toolkit and then began implementation of the Coping with Labor Algorithm. After implementation, 13 IP nurses completed the postintervention survey. The surveyed IP nurses reported positive changes in their perceived frequency of labor support and a slight change in their birth beliefs.

Effects of an Interdisciplinary Practice Bundle for Second-Stage Labor on Clinical Outcomes

BACKGROUND

There is renewed interest in second-stage labor practices as recent evidence has challenged historical perspectives on safe duration of second-stage labor. Traditional practices and routine interventions during second-stage have uncertain benefit for low-risk women and may result in cesarean birth.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement an interdisciplinary second-stage practice bundle to promote safe outcomes including method of birth and women's birth experience.

METHODS

Standardized second-stage labor evidence-based practice recommendations structured into a 5 Ps practice bundle (patience, positioning, physiologic resuscitation, progress, preventing urinary harm) were implemented across 34 birthing hospitals in the Trinity Health system.

RESULTS

Significant improvements were observed in second-stage practices. Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses' perinatal nursing care quality measure Second-Stage of Labor: Mother-Initiated Spontaneous Pushing significantly improved [pre-implementation 43% (510/1,195), post-implementation 76% (1,541/2,028), p < .0001]. Joint Commission Perinatal Care-02: nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean rate significantly decreased (p = 0.02) with no differences in maternal morbidity, or negative newborn birth outcomes. Unexpected complications in term births significantly decreased in all newborns (p < 0.001), and for newborns from vaginal births (p = 0.03). Birth experience satisfaction rose from the 69th to the 81st percentile.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Implementing 13 evidence-based second-stage labor practices derived from the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses and the American College of Nurse-Midwives professional guidelines achieved our goals of safely reducing primary cesarean birth among low-risk nulliparous women, and optimizing maternal and fetal outcomes associated with labor and birth. By minimizing routine interventions, nurses support physiologic birth and improve women's birth satisfaction.

Navigating the perinatal quality landscape

The National Quality Strategy, mandated by the Affordable Care Act, outlines the triple aim of better health, better care, and lower costs. Perinatal nurses are integral to the National Quality movement as care providers, leaders, and experts. The most notable accomplishments in perinatal care of the last decade relate to the endorsement of quality measures by the National Quality Forum that provide unified goals and the quality improvement frameworks provided by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement that help systems create action and change through education, team building, process improvement, and structure. Fourteen perinatal quality measures are currently endorsed by the National Quality Forum, 5 of which are mandated by The Joint Commission and required for accreditation. Understanding the current perinatal quality measures and the resources available for implementation is essential to nursing care delivery. Realizing the nurses' role within the quality improvement landscape and mobilizing nationally endorsed quality measures as levers for nurse-led improvement projects promise actualization of marked quality improvement in perinatal care.