Relevance to clinical practice
It was noted that 74 participants were lost due to the
unavailability of practitioner on site, and this raised the
question of practicality of using ear acupressure in a busy
clinical setting. Familiarity with the application process and
training of additional midwives in performing this task
would probably facilitate the implementation of this intervention,
but further evidence to prove its effectiveness
would first of all be required.
Another interesting point to note is that the compliance
rate of the midwives to obtain the VDPS score gradually
declined from the highest 984% upon the transfer of thewoman to the postnatal ward to the lowest 512% at
48 hours postdelivery, with an average of 764% compliance
rate. For the self-administered VAS scores, the
response rate from the women ranged from 82–938% at
different time intervals, with an average of 855%
response rate. Such discrepancy in the pain assessment by
healthcare professionals and the self-reporting pain perception
by the women raised a concern of whether the
issue of perineal pain was overlooked by the midwives.
Even though most women seem to be able to take up the
activities of self-care and baby care in the first two days
after delivery, it can never be assumed that they are all
pain free.