Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of nurse-midwives on the use of partograph in health care centres of Bhutan

Introduction: World Health Organization recommends using partograph to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths due to obstetric complications. Proper utilization of partograph by health care providers was noted to be good when it is associated with better knowledge and a positive attitude towards partograph. There is a paucity of scientific study about knowledge, attitude and practice on the use of partograph among healthcare providers in Bhutan. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of nurse-midwives on the use and completeness of partograph in seven hospitals and one Basic Health Unit grade I.Methods: A descriptive study was carried out from September 2017 to February 2018. Non-probability sampling method was used to survey all nurse-midwives who attended deliveries in the selected health facilities using a standard semi-structured questionnaire. All partographs filled three months before the data collection was selected purposefully and reviewed using a checklist.Results: A total of 96 participants consisting of 66 (68.8%) females and 30(31.3%) males consented for the survey. Good knowledge of partograph was reported among 48(50%) of the participants with a mean score of 12.1 (SD: ± 1.52). Attitude on the usage of partograph was found to be favorable with a median of 42 (range 32-48). Partograph usage was reported by 86 (89.6%) while only 10.4% reported having received in-service training on partograph. Out of 426 partographs reviewed, only 68 (16.0%) were found to be complete.Conclusions: Despite the encouraging findings on the use of partograph, completeness of the partograph was very low. This study therefore, recommends the reinforcement of knowledge and practice through periodic continuous medical education and auditing of the partographs.