IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The overarching goal of childbirth education is to have a healthy birth. Childbirth practices should not constitute a one-size-fits-all approach. Nurses and childbirth educators need to focus their attention on the patient, and not a machine. The indiscriminate use of EFM in the labor room is not improving outcomes, and is actually causing harm to healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Employing a low-tech, high-touch approach needs to be the main philosophy while providing nursing care to most laboring women.
Creating a culture of safety starts during the prenatal period and requires childbirth educators and maternity nurses to recognize the power within each woman to make an informed choice based on evidence. Childbirth classes envisioned in a new light provide an educational forum for pregnant women and their partners to learn how to communicate their needs, share their wisdom, and develop skills of advocacy so that a healthy birth can be achieved.