Perinatal mortality in an institution where nurse aides conduct deliveries, Nkayi District, Zimbabwe.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the perinatal mortality and describe the effects of nurse aide conducted deliveries on it at Mbuma hospital, Nkayi District, an institution where nurse aides conduct deliveries.

DESIGN

Retrospective descriptive study based on review of maternal records from January 1992 to December 1994.

SETTING

Mission hospital situated in a rural area.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The training which the health worker who conducted the delivery had and the pregnancy outcomes.

RESULTS

1459 deliveries were conducted and of these 824 (57pc) were conducted by nurse aides. The perinatal mortality of the nurse aide conducted deliveries was five per 1000 births and that of the trained staff was 57 per 1000 births.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurse aides conducted more than half the total deliveries at the hospital. The hospital referral system, where normal deliveries are conducted by nurse aides while primigravidas and complicated cases are conducted by trained staff is working well as supported by the low perinatal mortality of the nurse aide conducted deliveries.