A supervisory report on a half day study session of Hypno-birthing Essay

A supervisory report on a half day study session of Hypno-birthing - Essay Example This opportunity was then transformed into a structured project that was to organise a study session for midwives on the subject. Background / context The advent of choice agenda has seen women chose hypnobirthing as a method for pain relief. Hypnobirthing is the process of hypnosis during birth as a way of managing pain and remaining calm during labour. Research on the subject has shown that babies can be delivered without drugs safely and that couples today can look forward to a beautiful, calm and serene birthing experience, where mother, baby and birthing companion combine in joyful bonding. Hypnobirthing is said to enable women to have a positive, calm more comfortable experience of childbirth. This trend is raising and it can be asserted that health professional may have less knowledge about this rising trend. The maternity services need midwives who can respond flexibly within an environment focused on women - centred care (Thomas, 2008). However, research on hypnosis and its use intrapartum is scanty. A quest in about 8 Trusts to find out if they had a guideline yielded to not. The NMC and RCM websites were searched for any position statements on the subject nil was found. A Cochrane library search (February 2011), MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL realised only 1 research whose results was as follows; women taught self-hypnosis had decreased requirements for pharmacological analgesia (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.79, five trials 749 women) including epidural analgesia (RR 0.30, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.40. Acupuncture and hypnosis may be beneficial for the management of pain during labour; however, the number of women studied has been small. The Trust system does not monitor the use of hypnosis as pain relief despite women using it however, acupuncture is monitored. Recently the daily telegraph (2011), reported that the National Health Service (NHS) launched an 18-month study of ‘‘hypnobirthing’’ to try to cut the use of epidurals and other pai nkillers during childbirth – six out of 10 mothers in some hospitals rely on expensive drugs and this has resurrected an old debate. Is intense pain unavoidable, or is it triggered by fear and tension? Multicentre pragmatic exploratory non-blinded randomised controlled trial (SHIP trail), at Central Lancashire University and involving more than 800 women will investigate self-hypnosis techniques for intrapartum pain management which induces a deep sense of relaxation. Interestingly, to note is the fact that NHS despite the financial difficulties it is facing (Kings Fund) is committed to the choice agenda, hypnobirthing could be one of the answers to save the NHS and to improve the lives of women and babies. According to Salvage, Health services in the UK are facing major challenges in a context of drastic public funding. Salvage (2011) wonders how the choice agenda be upheld in this turbulent times. Hypnobirthing could be an answer in reduction of intervention like use of epi dural, reduction in caesareans sections and increase in normal birth. Hence the need to understand this model as well as having agreed pathways of how it is to be managed. There is a choice: SoMs and midwives could be passive or to try to lead and influence change. Our accountability as well as our contribution as midwives is to