Abstract:
The main purpose o f th is retrospective comparative stu dy
o f randomly selected women was to assess the partograph
as an aid to parturition and to p ro v id e fu r th e r information
to s u p p o rt more widespread use o f this instrument and
id e n tify any areas where improvement could be made.
Two groups o f women expecting their first babies were
s tudie d. The p re -partograph group comprised 65 women
who delivered in 1988 before the partogrph programme
was introduced in Ghana. The post-partograph group
composed o f 76 women who had th e ir babies in 1991, two
years a fte r the inception o f th e programme.
There was a statistically significant difference between the
two groups which showed that more women in the postp
a rto g ra p h group were given sedatives and tranquillisers
in llabour (P<0.01). There appeared to be trends showing
a decreased incidence o f delivery by caesarean section, an
increase in the event o f pos t-partum haemorrhage and a
decrease in the post-natal antibiotic requirement in the
post-partograph gropu , although , statistically significant
differences were not reached.
The discrepancies between the two groups were not statistcally significant for any other of the parameters
tested.
The findings endorsed the value o f the partograph as a
simple, low-cost and efficient tool as an aid to confinement.
However, questions are raised about th e use of the
admission time as the basis fo r the calculation of the
duration of labour, since the short duration so estimated
is not a representation o f the woman’ s own experience of
labour. The admission time approach suggested by
Hendricks et al (1970) under estimates the mothers
d iagnosis/experience o f labour, [Wilcoxon matched-pairs
signed rank te s t, P< 0.05.] By contrast, th e cervical
dilatation time-scale approach o f calculation does provide a
more similar value to the mother’s estimation/experience,
[Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test; P<0.01,] than
th a t o f Hendricks et al (1970).
