Abstract:

Poor knowledge and attitude towards partograph use are the causes of non-usage of the partograph to monitor women in labour, associating it with 13% of maternal death. The researcher is concerned about what could be responsible for these deaths despite knowing that the use of partograph for monitoring of labour could prevent such deaths. Yet, this tool is not being well utilized for early identification of complications during labour. Thus, the study assessed the knowledge and attitude of Midwives towards the utilization of partograph in selected secondary health facilities in Gombe State. A cross-sectional descriptive study design was adopted and 63 particpants were selected three (3) hospitals purposive sample technique. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The collected data were analysed with the aid of the statistical package for social sciences 24. Descriptive Data were presented as frequency table and percentages. Inferential statistics such as Pearson’s correlation was used to test the relationship between knowledge and utilization of partograph, while chi square test was used to test the hypotheses in this study. Results revealed mean age of respondents was 37.2±7.6years, 77.8% were married. Majority, 96.8% had good knowledge and 70.6% had positive attitude towards the use of partograph. Utilization of partograph was good among 44.4% of respondents. Above half, 57.1% of respondentshad never attended any workshop on partograph post-graduation.There was no significant association between knowledge and utilization of partograph (x2=0.026, p=0.103). Factors such as shortage of manpower, poor management support and time constrains were found to negatively influence the utilization of partograph. Routine use of partograph is poorly carried out in the study centers. It is recommended that the government should organize a hand-on training of the use of partograph periodically and audit system should be put in place to ensure the effective use of the partograph in government hospitals.