Perspectives of doctors and nurses about the implementation of respectful maternity care in a teaching hospital in India

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Background: An important component of the mother-and-baby-friendly birthing facility is respectful maternity care (RMC) during delivery. Aims and Objectives: The objectives of this study were to identify resident doctors' and staff nurses' opinions on the provision of RMC at their workplace, to explore the association between opinion on RMC and respondent's characteristics, and to explore the perceived barriers. Materials and Methods: A facility-based observational, descriptive study of the cross-sectional design was thus conducted among 78 resident doctors and staff nurses posted in the labour room of the study hospital. Data were collected by a predesigned, self-administered questionnaire. Variables included were demographic, service related and opinion on prevalent RMC practice at the respondents' workplace. SPSS version 17 was used for data analysis. Results: Providers' mean age was 30.5 years, and the mean work experience of 3.1 years. About two-thirds of the respondents were resident doctors and 83.3% were female. More than 60% of providers were trained on RMC. Providers reported desirable practices on most items related to RMC except in providers introducing themselves to women, allowing birthing companions and allowing women to assume the position of choice. Opinion about RMC was significantly associated with training status. Uncooperative women were considered the most important barrier to providing optimum RMC. Conclusion: It can be concluded from this study that training providers can reinforce good practices related to RMC and improve the quality of care at birth.