Teaching physiologic birth in maternal-newborn courses in undergraduate nursing programs: current challenges

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Maternal Health
• Public Health

Background:

• Physiologic birth, associated with better outcomes for low-risk women, is decreasing.
• Undergraduate nursing students have fewer opportunities to learn about and care for women choosing unmedicated, physiologic births.
• This gap challenges nurse educators in preparing future nurses for diverse maternal care needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the challenges faced by undergraduate nursing programs in educating students about low-intervention birth.
• To identify barriers to effective pedagogical strategies for teaching physiologic birth care.
• To understand the implications for preparing nurses to advocate for minimal intervention birth options.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory descriptive qualitative study design.
• Data collected from 150 randomly selected undergraduate nursing programs in the United States.
• Analysis focused on identifying themes related to educational challenges.

Main Results:

• Four major themes emerged: lack of clinical placement opportunities, discrepancies between education and clinical practice, insufficient evidence-based support for physiologic birth, and the need for improved pedagogical strategies.
• Challenges impact students' ability to gain experience in physiologic birth care.
• Educators face difficulties in preparing students to advocate for minimal intervention birth.

Conclusions:

• There is a critical need to address the challenges in nursing education regarding low-intervention and physiologic birth.
• Developing effective pedagogical strategies is essential for preparing nurses to support all childbearing women.
• Further research is needed on best practices for educating future nurses in advocating for minimal intervention birth options.