Title : Traditional Medicines perinatally: Why should we care?
Abstract:
Controversy surroundsthe use of traditional medicines and application of cultural practices within the conventional health delivery systems in low and middle income countries in Southern Africa. The controversy is truer within the field of midwifery and midwifery education. A variety of practices exist in communities all over Africa that has implications on the pregnant women and their unborn children. Women take a variety of medications through multiple routes, some are taken orally, others topically, intravenously and even as pessaries. These medications vary in terms of colour, consistency, shape and size and there are used for a variety of functions. In as much as the conventional health delivery system condemns such traditional medicines but their practices are still evident. A variety of clinical manifestations are observed during admission and care of pregnant women. Some of the varied clinical manifestations include paste on the skin, spontaneous precipitate labour, intra uterine foetal death, raptured uterus and even perforated ulcers.
Patients are not really open about the contents of their traditional medications due to the attitudes of healthcare workers and such has had a detrimental effects to the maternal outcomes in some countries globally.
This presentation will pay particular attention will be placed on the use of traditional medicines and practices within the perinatal period inclusive of the pre-natal phase, intra-partum and post-natal care. The presentation will provide a pictoral description of the general presentation of pregnant women engrossed in cultural practices throughout their pregnancy. The clinical picture of the woman applying traditional medicines will be described relative to changes on the essential indicators that are observed during all phases of pregnancy.
The results of a focus group discussion that was done will be presented. The focus group discussion was done with some contemporary experts who have used traditional medicines and are prescribing it to pregnant women in Lesotho. The experts interviewed seemed to also display that they have the skill of preparing such medicines and their input was deemed essential to this discussion. The results of the FGD focused on the purpose of the traditional medicines and how they are applied in pregnancy.
Therefore, the practice related to traditional medicines has implications in the delivery of healthcare to women who are pregnant in Africa and the global sphere. The presentation will further highlight the implications of the application traditional medicines in the discipline of nursing. The four pillars of the discipline will be discussed in depth namely; nursing education, nursing practice, nursing administration and research. Finally, what is the future of nursing care within a transcultural perspective for women in the perinatal period.
Audience take away:
- Be sensitive to some of the changes associated with pregnancy indicators during pregnancy;
- Critically appraise their teaching and learning related to transcultural care within nursing education curricula;
- Be able to revise institutional specific guidelines on the management and care of patients; and
- Devise methods of providing transcultural appropriate care.
