Nurse-midwives reconfiguring care in the scope of labor and births in COVID-19 times

Abstract

Objectives: to analyze how the nurse-midwives of maternity wards that were fields of practice for an improvement course in obstetrics have reorganized care in the context of labor and birth amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: this is a descriptive, exploratory and qualitative study carried out with nine nurse-midwives who are preceptors and collaborators in maternity wards that were fields of practice for an improvement course, between February and April 2020, through a semi-structured interview through WhatsApp®. Content analysis was used to treat the information. Results: the pandemic brought the need to reorganize work, with a focus on service training and maintenance of good practices in labor and birth, whose movement was intensely experienced, interfering in nurse-midwives’ mental health. Conclusion: nurse-midwives have faced the pandemic with concerns about maintaining safe care, focused on practices based on updated scientific evidence.