Abstract
ABSTRACTObjective:to know the degree of fulfillment of the requests that women reflect in their birth plans and to determine their influence on the main obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Method:retrospective, descriptive and analytical study with 178 women with birth plans in third-level hospital. Inclusion criteria: low risk gestation, cephalic presentation, single childbirth, delivered at term. Scheduled and urgent cesareans without labor were excluded. A descriptive and inferential analysis of the variables was performed. Results:the birth plan was mostly fulfilled in only 37% of the women. The group of women whose compliance was low (less than or equal to 50%) had a cesarean section rate of 18.8% and their children had worse outcomes in the Apgar test and umbilical cord pH; while in women with high compliance (75% or more), the percentage of cesareans fell to 6.1% and their children had better outcomes. Conclusion:birth plans have a low degree of compliance. The higher the compliance, the better is the maternal and neonatal outcomes. The birth plan can be an effective tool to achieve better outcomes for the mother and her child. Measures are needed to improve its compliance.
Highlights
Women are increasingly involved in their own birthing processes
The birth plan is a tool that contributes to this fact, since it is a written document that the woman presents before delivery to the professionals who will assist her and reflect her preferences, expectations and fears about her own birthing process
The neonatal outcomes of the present study show that the higher the compliance of the birth plan, the better the Apgar score and the umbilical cord pH range
Summary
The birth plan is a tool that contributes to this fact, since it is a written document that the woman presents before delivery to the professionals who will assist her and reflect her preferences, expectations and fears about her own birthing process. The birth plan facilitates communication with professionals, improves women’s satisfaction, and promotes their participation and decision-making in their own birthing process[1,2,3]. Just like the informed consent document, the birth plan is a supporting document to gather the user’s will. The free and informed decisions of the users must be respected, regardless of the form and title given to it, even if they are expressed only verbally[4]
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