Effectiveness of Self Perineal Care and Aseptic Perineal care towards Healing of Episiotomy wounds among Postnatal Mothers

The incidence of episiotomy continues to be high in Asian countries, therefore perineal episiotomy wounds commonly occur in women during labor. The assessment of perineal wounds is an important aspect of routine care women receive during the postpartum period. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of self perineal care (Group 2) and aseptic perineal care (Group 1) in healing episiotomy wounds of postnatal mothers. A quasi experimental study was conducted in the postnatal wards of St. John‟s Medical college Hospital and Research center, Bangalore. Purposive sampling method was used to select the mothers to Group 1 and Group 2 with total size of 100 postnatal mothers. The data was collected using REEDA observation checklist for episiotomy wound healing. An observation checklist to assess the performance of self perineal care. Data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that there was significant difference in episiotomy wound score between aseptic perineal care and Self perineal care on second and third postnatal days (p<.05). Episiotomy wound score was lower in self perineal care group compared to aseptic perineal care. This is significant at p < 0.05.However there was a significant relationship between episiotomy wound score and baby weight (p<.001). The study reveals that the self perineal care gives better wound healing and is cost effective method of perineal care, which makes every postnatal mother to be independent of taking care by her and can be effectively practiced even at home.