Barriers to Implementing Evidence-Based Intrapartum Care: A Descriptive Exploratory Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Evidence based practice is an effective strategy to improve the quality of obstetric care. Identification of barriers to adaptation of evidence-based intrapartum care is necessary and crucial to deliver high quality care to parturient women. OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to explore barriers to adaptation of evidence-based intrapartum care from the perspective of clinical groups that provide obstetric care in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive exploratory qualitative research was conducted from 2013 to 2014 in fourteen state medical training centers in Iran. Participants were selected from midwives, specialists, and residents of obstetrics and gynecology, with a purposive sample and snowball method. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews and analyzed according to conventional content analysis. RESULTS: Data analysis identified twenty subcategories and four main categories. Main categories included barriers were related to laboring women, persons providing care, the organization environment and health system. CONCLUSIONS: The adoption of evidence based intrapartum care is a complex process. In this regard, identifying potential barriers is the first step to determine and apply effective strategies to encourage the compliance evidence based obstetric care and improves maternity care quality.