Abstract
To determine if the woman who receives the continuous attendance of a nurse during the first stage of labor requires less analgesic medication than the woman who is given interrupted or intermittent nursing care, a study was made employing the experimental method with the parallel-group technique. Thirteen patients meeting the criteria of the study who received continuous nursing attendance during the first stage of labor by the nurse researcher were closely matched to thirteen patients from a group of one hundred seventy-three, whose nursing care was given by the staff personnel. As an objective method of assessing support during labor a comparison was made of the paired subjects of the amounts of analgesic medication received. It was found that the control group or those patients receiving intermittent nursing care received analgesic medication sooner after admission to the hospital and earlier in labor as assessed by cervical dilatation. From admission to the hospital to the end of the first stage of labor, the control group was given almost five times as much analgesic medication as those patients who received continuous nursing care and attendance. Of the experimental group, thirty percent received no analgesic medication during the first stage of labor. Finally, the control group had a slightly significant longer first stage of labor as assessed from admission to complete cervical dilatation than did the experimental group. Thus, the findings from this study supported the hypothesis that the woman who has the continuous attendance of a nurse upon admission to the labor room and throughout the entire first stage of labor will require less analgesic medication than the woman who is given interrupted or intermittent nursing care.
LLU Discipline
Nursing
Department
Nursing
School
Graduate School
First Advisor
Clarice Woodward
Second Advisor
Harold F. Ziprick
Third Advisor
Bonnie Boyts Wilkins
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Degree Level
M.S.
Year Degree Awarded
1965
Date (Title Page)
6-1965
Language
English
Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings
Labor; Nurse-Patient Relations
Type
Thesis
Page Count
ix; 89
Digital Format
Digital Publisher
Loma Linda University Libraries
Copyright
Author
Usage Rights
This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.
Recommended Citation
Henriksen, Jo Ann Soulé, "Nurse Attendance Versus Use of Analgesic Medication in the First Stage of Labor" (1965). Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects. 2360.
https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/2360
Collection
Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Collection Website
http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/
Repository
Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives