Abstract

A shortage of doctors limits the provision of post-partum sterilisation services in rural areas of Thailand. To overcome this problem nurse-midwives with theatre experience were trained to perform post-partum tubal ligation by a mini-laparotomy incision under local anaesthesia. The performance of the nurse-midwives was compared with that of doctors in a controlled, randomised clinical trial. Some operative difficulty was encountered by the nurses in 4-9% of cases and by the doctors in 2·0% of cases. This difference is not statistically significant and arose largely because the nurse-midwife cases were more obese. Nurse-midwives required a significantly longer operating-time (18·5 min) than doctors (11·9 min). However, postoperative morbidity was similar in the two groups (7·0% and 6·0%, respectively). These results suggest that trained nurse-midwives with theatre experience can safely provide post-partum sterilisation services. A further field trial is underway.

Full Text
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