Nursing Care to Women in Fertile Age: Practices to Prevent Maternal Mortality

Abstract

Introduction: Professional nurses have more contact with women during the assistance moments of their fertile life. These circumstances allow carrying on diverse practices to prevent the maternal mortality since the preconception and to guarantee a secure birth.
Objective: To describe practices developed on prevention of maternal mortality from the nursing professional praxis in three health institutions in Bogotá, Colombia.
Methods: It corresponds to a quantitative, descriptive, transversal design. Sixty nurses took part. We gathered information by means a questionnaire conformed in four modules (knowledge of the subject of care, multidisciplinary work, care management and normative foundation and continuing education) designed and valid for this study.
Results: This study identified moderate correlation between the knowledge of the subject of care and the multidisciplinary work (rs=, 631, p=<0, 01). We also found correlation between the multidisciplinary work and the nursing care management (rs=, 648, p=<0, 01), the nursing care management and the continuing education (rs=, 665, p=<0, 01), and one meaningful statistical association (?²=<0, 05) between the service and complexity level where they work and fulfil these practices.
Conclusions: The implementation of practices that counteract maternal mortality is better when nurses have updated knowledge that leads to develop better multidisciplinary work; and therefore better care management.