Abstract

Women in labour go through a lot of pain which needs to be relieved in other to enjoy the birth experience. If there is no adequate pain relief in labour, this could lead to a negative birth experience. Labour pain is managed primarily by attending midwives, however, there are some factors influencing the management of labour pain by midwives. This study assessed hospital policies and educational qualification as predictors of midwives management of labour pain in the tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State.rnThe study employed a descriptive cross sectional survey carried out in the three tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State. A total enumeration of midwives (178) working at the obstetric and gynaecological units of the hospitals was used for the study. Face and content validity of the instrument were ensured by the researcher’s supervisor and other expert in the field of research and statistics.. Multiple Regression and Pearson product moment correlation was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.rnFindings revealed that 172 questionnaires were retrieved and validated for analysis, making 96.6% return rate. Demographic variable revealed that 103(59.9%) respondents were between the ages of 31-50yearswith the mean age of 39.7 ± 9.83 years and standard deviation of 2.2±1.0. Majority were female 166(96.5%) and 120(69.7%) respondents had a minimum of 6years working experience. The result showed that hospital policies did not predict midwives management of labour pain (F(1, 170) = 3.360, p=.069>0.05), while educational qualification correlates with midwives management of labour pain (X2 = 6.268, p = 0.014<0.05).rnIn conclusion, this study revealed that nursing education had direct influence on nursing practice, and necessary areas covered in the nursing education curriculum which translates to better practice and vice-versa. Also, educational qualifications is a potent factor compared to hospital policies in predicting midwives management of labour pain. Therefore, it is recommended that continuing education of midwives about the current trends in labour pain management would further maximize midwives ability to manage pain in labour individually and with empathy.