There is a lot (!) that I can't control at work, and there are lots of ways I wish birth in the hospital could be different. But this is something, from the blog Talk Birth, that I found very encouraging:
These are all factors that, to a certain extent, I (and other nurses and caregivers!) can directly influence. Meaning that regardless of what else goes right or wrong, we still have the opportunity to engage with the patient and make a difference to them.There are four factors that research have found to make the greatest contribution to your degree of satisfaction with your birth experience (experience or not of pain isn’t one of them!):
- Having good support from caregivers.
- Having a high quality relationship with caregivers.
- Being involved with decision making about care.
- Having better than expected experiences (or having high expectations)
1 comment:
I agree--I think nurses can really be encouraged by this. It looks like the most important factors with birth satisfaction have little to do with place or birth and more to do with how women are treated. I think there is a LOT we could do to increase the satisfaction of women's experiences in the hospital.
Though my enthusiasm for homebirth sometimes makes me feel like all women should flock to having homebirths, the reality is that the vast majority of women birth in the hospital and birthing in the hospital *can* also be a satisfying experience (particularly if the right people are involved and the hospital is mother-friendly!)--it doesn't have to be all or nothing!
Molly
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