Occupational Medicine & Health Affairs
Open Access

Abstract

Introduction: Despite improvement in coverage of institutional deliveries and skilled birth attendants, India has missed its Millennium Development Goal to reduce Maternal Mortality Rate. In order to increase access to primary care services, the Independent Nurse Practitioner (INP) is one of the best solutions. Objectives: To assess the opinion of doctors, nurses and key informants regarding Independent Nurse Midwifery Practitioner (INMP) and to determine the association of opinion score of doctors, nurses and key informants with their selected demographic variables. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: The conceptual framework of the study was based on General System Theory. A quantitative non-experimental research approach with descriptive survey design was adopted. A total of 400 subjects (120 doctors, 120 nurses and 160 key informants) were selected using purposive sampling technique from selected hospitals and nursing colleges from the state of Haryana. The tool used for the study consisted of structured Performa regarding sample characteristics and Likert scale. Results: Findings of the study showed that there was a significant difference (p=0.001) between mean opinion score of doctors (81.49), nurses (92.80) and key informants (92.08) regarding Independent Nurse Midwifery Practitioner. It was also found that there was an association of mean opinion score of doctors with their gender; nurses with their age, working experience and previous knowledge about INMP and key informants with their educational and occupational status. Majority of subjects i.e., 71.30% of doctors, 79.50% of nurses and 76.80% of key informants had high opinion about competency of nurses. More than half i.e., 50.15% of doctors, 61.80% of nurses and 65.90% key informants had agreement regarding medication competency of nurses. Interestingly, nurses had low opinion score (54.40%) than doctors (62.20%) and key informants (64.80%) regarding consumers acceptance. Conclusion: Nurses and key informants had almost similar opinion about independent nurse midwifery practitioner as compared to doctors. References 1.Deltimol Mathew and Harinder Jeet Goyal (2016) Awareness and Opinion of General Public and Health Care Professionals regarding the Prospects and Challenges of Independent Nursing Practice. NJI; 5:203-6. 2.Pravina Mahadalkar and Santa De (2016) Independent Midwifery Practice in India. International Journal of Current Research; 8(6): 33441-3. 3.Kathrin H Stoll, Yvonne L (2016) Hauck, Wendy A. Hall. Home or hospital? Midwife or physician? Preferences for maternity care provider and place of birth among Western Australian Students. Women and Birth; 29: e33-8. 4.Francoise Maillefer, Claire de Labrusse, Laura Cardia-Voneche, Patrick Hohlfeld, Beat Stoll (2015) Women and healthcare providers perceptions of a midwife-led unit in a Swiss University hospital: A qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth; 15: 56. 5.Ngai Fen Cheung, Rosemary Mander, Xiaoli Wang, Wei Fu, Hong Zhou, Liping Zhang (2011) Views of Chinese women and health professionals about midwife led care in China. Midwifery; 27: 842-7.

Biography

Shikha Guleria is a Graduate Nurse pursuing her MSc Nursing in Obstetrics and Gynecological Nursing Specialty at Maharishi Markandeshwar University, India. Her work helps policy makers and consumers to realize and accept importance of nurse practitioner in midwifery, thereby helping in reduction of maternal and infant mortality rate in long run.