Information Given Perioperatively to Women who have Undergone Caesarean Section at Bwaila Maternity Wing in Lilongwe District
A quantitative descriptive study on information given perioperatively to women who have undergone caesarean section (c/s) was conducted at Bwaila Maternity Wing in Lilongwe District in September 2008. The aim of the study was to assess the perioperative information given to the clients. Participants...
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| Format: | Other |
| Language: | English |
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Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
2022
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| Online Access: | http://nkhokwe.kuhes.ac.mw/handle/20.500.12845/528 |
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Add Tag | Summary: | A quantitative descriptive study on information given perioperatively to women who have undergone caesarean section (c/s) was conducted at Bwaila Maternity Wing in Lilongwe District in September 2008. The aim of the study was to assess the perioperative information given to the clients. Participants (N=30) were selected through convenience sampling. Data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire and analysed using frequencies and percentages. The results showed that the clients did not have full information on certain aspects of perioperative information. Ninety percent were aware of the need for giving consent and 83% were aware of the indication for the operation. Ideally, all clients would need to give informed consent and know indication of operation. It was observed that none of the clients was told to lie on her back for the first eight hours postoperatively, which is dangerous. This could lead to serious complications like hypotension because if the client sits up abruptly after spinal anaesthetic the blood pressure will fall and this can lead to death.
The results show that the majority of clients got the preoperative information from doctors (53 %), intraoperatively most of the information was obtained from anaesthetists (90%) and postoperatively most of the information was obtained from nurses (80%). Some information was given by fellow clients and conflicted with that given by health personnel. For example, one client stated that theatre personnel told her to start eating at 5.30 pm on that day but her fellow clients told her that one is not allowed to eat after surgery. Most (90%) of the clients were not given a chance to ask questions when health
personnel interacted with them indicating that clients would indeed be short of information. Further, only 56% of the clients perceived the perioperative information they received as adequate. Most of the respondents went to school up to standard one to five followed by standards five to eight, which may suggest that these clients had lower levels of comprehension. Clients with secondary education had greater need for extra information compared to those with lower education. None in the secondary school education category was satisfied with the perioperative information received.
The researcher recommends that for nursing education, nursing colleges should have guidelines on perioperative information given to women undergoing c/s and clinical teachers should ensure that students should give adequate and accurate perioperative information. For nursing practice, in-service education on perioperative information should be conducted for nurses working at Bwaila Maternity Wing and information provision methods that help in the recall and understanding of information should be devised. Nurses should encourage clients to ask questions to ensure that special cases such as women who have HIV and AIDS should be catered for because in the study, one client who was taking ARV s lamented that she was not advised on how to proceed with taking her ARVs after she was told to starve in preparation for surgery.
Nurse managers should regularly do supervisory work for continued quality control and Bwaila Maternity Wing needs to have a policy on perioperative information given to women undergoing c/s to ensure consistency in the amount and type of information to be received by the women. A study needs to be done on barriers to perioperative information. |
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