Abstract:
Objective to determine women's and midwives¿ experiences of using perineal warm packs in the second stage of labour. Design as part of a randomised controlled trial (Warm Pack Trial), women and midwives were asked to complete questionnaires about the effects of the warm packs on pain, perineal trauma, comfort, feelings of control, satisfaction and intentions for use during future births. Setting two hospitals in Sydney, Australia. Participants a randomised controlled trial was undertaken. In the late second stage of labour, nulliparous women (n=717) giving birth were randomly allocated to having warm packs (n=360) applied to their perineum or standard care (n=357). Standard care was defined as any second stage practice carried out by midwives that did not include the application of warm packs to the perineum. Three hundred and two nulliparous women randomised to receive warm packs (84%) received the treatment. Questionnaires were completed by 266 (88%) women who received warm packs, and 270 (89%) midwives who applied warm packs to these women. Intervention warm, moist packs were applied to the perineum in the late second stage of labour.
