10. Human resources
In countries where midwives are also qualified nurses, health
managers are encouraged to form and maintain a cadre of labor
ward midwives who are experienced, enabled (with additional competencies
and legislation), and motivated to provide high-quality
woman-centered safe care [16,25]. Health managers should avoid frequent
rotation of key labor ward staff to other areas outside the maternity
section. Human resource planning should recognize the need
for a second skilled person to assist during the second stage of
labor. To achieve this requires careful shift planning to deal with the
normal “peaks and troughs” of workload on the labor ward and maintain
safe staffing provision at all times.