Case Scenario: You are the nurse educator on the labor and delivery floor in your large, urban hospital. Standard practice in your unit is that women are not allowed to eat or drink once they are in active labor. The labor and delivery unit staff wonders whether there is evidence to support this practice. You decide you're going to engage in an EBP project to search for the Answer. After creating a PICOT question, searching, appraising, and synthesizing the body of evidence, you discover the evidence doesn't support keeping women NPO during labor. In spite of having a strong body of evidence that supports allowing women to decide whether or not they want to eat and drink during labor, the obstetricians and anesthesiologists' professional organizations recommend keeping women NPO during labor in their practice guidelines. Although the nurses and doctors wanted to follow the evidence, the doctors are hesitant. They decide to be innovative, so they form a research study exploring the impact of eating and drinking during labor. Laboring women were offered the opportunity to opt into the research study or not, allowing them to decide whether or not they are able to eat and drink during labor.
To Prepare: Reflect on the scenario above.
1. Post a brief description of the general literature on keeping women NPO during labor. Be specific and cite specific supporting literature.
2. What do you think of the innovative approach the nurses and doctors on your labor and delivery unit decided to take? Need Online Tutoring?
3. Is there anything you might do differently?