Evaluation of Knowledge and Practice of Newly Graduated Midwives in Normal Vaginal Delivery in Hospitals Affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Evaluating the knowledge and practice of newly graduated midwifery students can reflect to some extent the results of midwifery educational planning. This study was done to assess knowledge and practice of newly graduated midwives in Normal Vaginal Delivery (NVD) in hospitals affiliated to Medical Sciences Universities in Tehran. Methods: In a survey study, all newly graduated midwives (n=30) employed in hospitals affiliated to Med-ical Universities in Tehran and graduated in the past two years were selected through census sampling method. A self-administered questionnaire containing 40 multiple-choice questions for measuring knowledge was completed by midwives. Then the practice of midwives while performing normal vaginal delivery and episiotomy was observed using a 109 item checklist. The data was analyzed by SPSS software using freque-ncy distribution, mean and standard deviation. Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to measure the correlation between knowledge and practice scores, and age and experience of midwives. Results: Most of the subjects had an average knowledge (90%) and desirable practice in all stages of NVD including first stage (60%), second stage (73.3%) third stage (73.3%) and forth stage (60%). In immediate care of the new born 86.7% and in episiotomy 80% had a desirable practice. Conclusion: This study showed that graduated midwives were competent enough to perform a safe normal vaginal delivery.