Abstract

BackgroundCoronavirus currently cause a lot of pressure on the health system. Accordingly, many changes occurred in the way of providing health care, including pregnancy and childbirth care. To our knowledge, no studies on experiences of maternity care Providers during the COVID-19 Pandemic have been published in Iran. We aimed to discover their experiences on pregnancy and childbirth care during the current COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThis study was a qualitative research performed with a descriptive phenomenological approach. The used sampling method was purposive sampling by taking the maximum variation possible into account, which continued until data saturation. Accordingly, in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted by including 12 participants, as 4 gynecologists, 6 midwives working in the hospitals and private offices, and 2 midwives working in the health centers.Data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven stage method with MAXQDA10 software.ResultsData analysis led to the extraction of 3 themes, 9 categories, and 25 subcategories. The themes were as follows: “Fear of Disease”, “Burnout”, and “Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic”, respectively.ConclusionsMaternal health care providers experience emotional and psychological stress and work challenges during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, comprehensive support should be provided for the protection of their physical and mental health statuses. By working as a team, utilizing the capacity of telemedicine to care and follow up mothers, and providing maternity care at home, some emerged challenges to maternal care services can be overcome.

Highlights

  • Coronavirus currently cause a lot of pressure on the health system

  • The themes were as follows: “Fear of Disease”, “Burnout”, and “Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic”, respectively

  • Twelve participants, including 4 gynecologists, 6 midwives working in hospitals and private offices, and 2 midwives working in health centers, were interviewed in this study

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Summary

Introduction

Coronavirus currently cause a lot of pressure on the health system. many changes occurred in the way of providing health care, including pregnancy and childbirth care. We aimed to discover their experiences on pregnancy and childbirth care during the current COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is considered as a life-threatening respiratory disease that has rapidly spread all around the world and caused serious public health problems [1]. Its Case-fatality rate is about 2.3% [2, 3] This disease is more severe in men, older people, and those with underlying diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and causes more morbidity and mortality [4]. Since pneumonia is the most common non-obstetric infection and responsible for many indirect maternal deaths, so any viral infection leading to respiratory infection during pregnancy is life-threatening for the pregnant mothers and requires immediate attention during pregnancy [8]. Besides maternal outcomes of COVID-19, the possibility of fetal effects and neonatal outcomes can be considered [9]

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