Perinatal Care Practices And Their Role In Preventing Complications During Labor And Delivery

Abstract

Background: The practices of perinatal care, such as antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, and timely obstetric care, are vital in the reduction of maternal and neonatal complications in the process of childbirth. Poor care is a significant cause of avoidable morbidity and mortality especially in resource constrained conditions. Objective: The aim of this research is to assess the effects of perinatal care practices in the prevention of complications during labor and delivery, and comparison of the results between enhanced and standard perinatal care groups. Methodology: A comparative observational study was done on 620 pregnant women who will be divided to enhance care and standard care groups. Clinical records and structured interviews were used to obtain the information. The most important ones were maternal complications, neonatal complications, and delivery practices. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were used to perform statistical analysis and the significance was defined as p < 0.05. Findings: Antenatal care was more used in the enhanced care (78% vs 52%, p < 0.01) and skilled birth attendance (88% vs 60%). There was a reduction in maternal complications (hemorrhage: 6% vs 14, p = 0.01), and it reduced neonatal complications. Conclusion: Optimal practices of perinatal care greatly help to reduce complications during labor and delivery and therefore, there is a need to intensify the maternal care systems.