A client/family centered maternity care study on madam Anifa Laminu

Abstract

As part of the Nursing and Midwifery Councils of Ghana’s requirement for awarding midwifery students a certificate, every student Midwife is required to undertake this care study to be qualified for the certificate. Students therefore receive training in midwifery as a basic course for three years within which theoretical and practical knowledge is impacted into them and also acquire skills needed in providing holistic care for a woman and her family in pregnancy, labour and puerperium. This care study gives the student midwife the opportunity to utilize the knowledge and skills she has acquired during her training to give quality care to all her clients including her chosen client. For quality care and prevention of complications, student midwife is made to understand the concept properly for prompt intervention to help identify and manage problems early enough in pregnancy, labour and puerperium. The Client/Family Centered Maternity Care Study is a systematic and thoughtful approach designed to provide accurate and holistic obstetric care to an expectant mother and her family based on the understanding of the knowledge of the client as a unique individual with specific problems and needs throughout the period of pregnancy, labour, delivery and puerperium with the use of the nursing process. This care study helps the student midwife to gain client’s confidence without any fear or doubt. The focus of this booklet is therefore on the selection of a client and also to appreciate her as a unique individual with special needs peculiar to herself and the family. During these interactions, the client gets the opportunity to express herself in order to gain quality care to her satisfaction and to allay her anxiety and fears. The care study enables the student midwife to use the new trends in midwifery like the use of partograph to monitor, labouring mothers during labour. ii This partograph is a tool developed by World Health Organization (WHO), which when used correctly helps reduces the menace of maternal death in the country. The active management of third stage of labour was introduced to limit the occurrences of postpartum hemorrhage. As qualified midwives and students render quality care through establishment of rapport, health education, counseling and notifying deviations from normal during pregnancy till end of puerperium, maternal and infant mortality could be reduced.