The laboring woman’s partner or another loved one can
provide some of these aspects of labor support, but he or
she usually lacks experience and objectivity. In some cases,
a nurse or midwife remains with the woman continuously
and provides both clinical care and labor support, but unpredictable staffing requirements and the primacy of clinical responsibilities may require that the nurse or midwife
withdraw from the labor support role to focus on a clinical
problem or look after more than one laboring woman at a
time. A doula is a trained, experienced layperson whose
sole responsibility is to provide continuous nonmedical
support to one laboring woman at a time.