Document Type
Honors
Department
Nursing
Rights Management
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Abstract
Lamaze International identifies six care practices used to promote, protect, and support the normal physiologic process of birth (Lamaze, 2007; Lamaze, 2014). These practices include: allowing labor to begin on its own; allowing freedom of movement throughout labor; providing continuous labor support; avoiding routine interventions; promoting spontaneous pushing in upright or gravity-neutral positions; and not separating mother and baby with unlimited breastfeeding opportunities. These care practices were adopted for nurses (Romano & Lothian, 2008) to support the normal physiologic birth (NPB.) The disparity between this recognized standard of care and the reality of nursing student education in the maternity clinical setting is explored through a survey of 59 nursing students. The survey elicited responses regarding: 1) educational experiences with NPB in the maternity clinical practicum; 2) experiences with each of the care practices in the maternity clinical practicum; and 3) beliefs about NBP in the clinical setting. The findings indicated a gap between evidence-based practice taught in the classroom and the experience of student nurses in the maternity clinical setting. Implications for nursing practice, research, education, and policy are identified.
Recommended Citation
Harris, Alicia N., "Student Experiences and Beliefs Regarding Normal Physiologic Birth" (2014). Honors Projects. 91.
https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/honors_projects/91
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.