A Study On The Effect Of Placental Cord Drainage On The Duration Of Third Stage Of Labour Among Intranatal Women In A Selected Hospital At Mangalore

Introduction

Labour end with the birth of the baby and delivery of the placenta. The delivery of the placenta is called the third stage of labour. The 3rd stage of labour refers to the interval from delivery of the fetus to the separation and expulsion of the placenta. The major complication associated with this period is postpartum haemorrhage which is the most common cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries.⁵

Even in developed countries although maternal mortality rates are much lower, postpartum haemorrhage remains major concern. Numerous factors lead to increased incidence of postpartum haemorrhage like prolonged labour, multifetal gestation, large baby, anaemia, eclampsia and operative vaginal delivery. The third stage of labour is generally managed using two different approaches: active and physiological or expectant management.

The active management involves administration of oxytocic drugs, clamping and cutting the cord as well as controlled cord traction. The physiological or expectant management mainly involves maternal effort assisted by gravity or putting the baby to the breast without using artificial oxytocin or early clamping or controlled cord traction. Cord drainage in 3rd stage of labour involves unclamping the previously clamped and separated umbilical cord and allowing the blood from the placenta to drain freely into appropriate receptacles.⁴

Materials and Methods

A true group research design was selected in this study. The study was conducted in selected hospital at Mangalore. The sample for the study comprised of 40 labouring women in third stage of labour.the hospital was selected by purposive sampling technique and random allocation was adopted to assign 20 sample to experimental and, 20 sample to control group.

The information regarding the demographic data were collected from the women through the base line clinical proforma. In the experimental group placental cord drainage will be done whereas in the control group the placenta is clamped and allowed to deliver without any interventions. The duration of placental delivery will be assessed in both the groups by using a stop watch. Data obtained in these areas were analysed by frequency percentage, Mann-Whitney U Test and fishers exact test.

Results

The findings are discussed under the following headings

Discussion

In this study the placental cord drainage was found to be effective in reducing the duration of third stage of labour.

The study findings are consistent with the findings of Melal Mohammed AL-Jeborry, Asmaa Kadhin Gatea who had conducted a study to assess the effect of placental cord drainage on duration of third stage of labour in a selected hospital at Iran. The result concluded that the average duration of 3rd stage of labour was 5.35+2.3 minutes in study group and 8.9+4.9 minutes in control group. This difference was highly significant (p< 0.00)²

Conclusion

In this study the placental cord drainage was found to be effective in reducing the duration of third stage of labour. The study findings showed that, there is a significant difference between the duration of 3^rd stage of labour among experimental group and control group. Hence it was concluded that Placental blood drainage is a simple safe and non-invasive method which reduces the duration of third stage of labour.