Water Birth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Water Birth - Essay Example The first section will discuss the style of evidence which was used to fulfill the criteria of later sections, and how this is to be evaluated and used throughout the project. The second section covers the evidence, research and guidelines related to water births and how this is related to best practice. It covers several types of material to give a well-balanced overview of the topic from many angles, each of which is evaluated in depth with respect to water births. The third and final section explores the importance of communication in the relationship between mother and midwife, and how this professional responsibility informs the way that a midwife gives the mother informed consent and fair options about her own care and that of the baby. This information will be looked at in the context of the water birth and how this option fits into the broader practice of midwifery and neonatal care. The final section will comprise of a leaflet designed to present the information collected in the previous sections to assist women in making informed decisions about water births. Accessing and Evaluating Current Evidence Finding good quality academic evidence is important for informing decisions about nursing and for use in informing the public about the safety and applicability of certain medical procedures. These pieces of evidence are normally done by academics or research clinicians that have access to patients and records, and can be used to make deductions about and correlations between certain pieces of information (Steen & Roberts, 2011). These studies are usually conducted with several people and can involve several racial, age and health status groups to ensure that the information provided can be generalized to the population as a whole with respect to certain aspects of healthcare. There are many different types of evidence and research designs, many of which are suitable for discussing water births in the context of midwifery. Firstly, there are statistical s tudies that are quantitative (number-based), which are used to ascertain the proportion of women who have water births and the types of complication that they generally get (Steen & Roberts, 2011). This allows us to decide whether a practice has too many risks, particularly for the child. There are also psychological studies which are generally qualitative (response-based) which can be used to determine if there are any psychological benefits to the women who choose this method of birthing. Both qualitative and quantitative studies can be used to gauge the level of pain a woman has during various birthing techniques, which can also be useful (Wickham, 2009). Additionally, meta-analyses can be performed (Steen & Roberts, 2011). These look at a group of studies which are relevant to the topic and try to group the findings together to give more weight to the research than a single study would. This helps to improve the generalizability and can give an overview of what types of practice are generally relevant (Wickham, 2009). It is important to identify how research will be done when evaluating practice. In this project, two main databases will be accessed (PUBMED and Medline) to give a wide range of resources on the topic. To find the correct resources, I will be using search