Utilization of the partograph and its associated factors among obstetric care providers in the Eastern zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2017: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: the partograph is a pre-printed paper form used in monitoring the progress labor. It was initially introduced by Philpot; and endorsed by the World Health Organization as a simple and accurate instrument for early recognition of complications of labor. Our study was conducted to evaluate the utilization of the partograph and associated factors among obstetric care providers in the Eastern zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia 2017. METHODS: a cross-sectional study was conducted in the Eastern zone of Tigray. Four hundred and fourteen participants were randomly selected from the Eastern zone weredas (districts). Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The data were entered into epi data version 3.5 and exported to SPSS V-20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate analysis were done to determine the association between a dependent variable and independent variables at P-value <0.05. RESULTS: of the 406 obstetric care providers, 83% of them had utilized the partograph to monitor labor. In addition, utilization of the partograph were statistically associated with being female (AOR=2.09, 95%CI= (1.11, 3.93), age group of 20-25 (AOR=0.25, 95%CI= (0.07, 0.88), being a diplomat midwives (AOR=0.01, 95%CI= (0.00, 0.28)) and having qualified from pre-service training (AOR=0.01, 95%CI= (0.02, 0.05)). CONCLUSION: participants’ utilization of the partograph was generally good. However, most of them were using it incorrectly. Age, gender, level of educational, year of qualification from pre-service training were the variables that showed association with the utilization of the partograph. The provision of on-the-job training on the partograph is recommended to improve partograph utilization.