Digital voice recorders - A conceptual intervention to facilitate contemporaneous record keeping in midwifery practice.

Abstract

The first responder, faced with any obstetric incident, frequently finds themselves within a dichotomy of multi-tasking activities. One challenge for the midwife, is to keep accurate and contemporaneous medical records, whilst simultaneously providing immediate clinical care. This paper aims to propose an innovative conceptualisation and a practical solution for maternity services, which strive to uphold best practice in creating contemporaneous and accurate medical records. The feasibility of introducing the use of voice recorders within maternity services will be explored, and offered as a mechanism to facilitate record keeping and simultaneous clinical care. A synthesised narrative review of the literature is conducted. This review academically tests the conceptual hypothesis that the implementation of voice recorders within maternity services may augment the midwife's ability to generate contemporaneous medical records. A background literature review will also explore the key drivers for this particular innovation, and the challenges facing healthcare leaders in service improvement. This paper builds upon previous suggestions that digital voice recorders may be an effective solution to enhance overall obstetric outcomes, and focuses upon conceptual processes for implementation. This paper offers the principal conclusion that the integration of voice recorders into midwifery practice for the purpose of supporting contemporaneous record keeping may be feasible within the current healthcare climate.