The Subject of Hypnobirthing - Essay Example

The change agent has endeavored to encourage the team of supervisors to become more proactive, leading and inspiring midwives and others to be enthusiastic and optimistic about obtaining knowledge on the subject of hypnobirthing. This opportunity was then transformed into a structured project that was to organize a study session for midwives on the subject. Background/context The advent of the choice agenda has seen women choose hypnobirthing as a method of pain relief. Hypnobirthing is the process of hypnosis during birth as a way of managing pain and remaining calm during labor. Research on the subject has shown that babies can be delivered without drugs safely and that couples today can look forward to a beautiful, calm, and serene birthing experience, where mother, baby, and birthing companion combine in joyful bonding.

Hypnobirthing is said to enable women to have a positive, calm more comfortable experience of childbirth. This trend is raising and it can be asserted that health professionals may have less knowledge about this rising trend. The maternity services need midwives who can respond flexibly within an environment focused on women-centered care (Thomas, 2008). However, research on hypnosis and its use intrapartum is scanty. A quest in about 8 Trusts to find out if they had a guideline yielded to not.

The NMC and RCM websites were searched for any position statements on the subject nil was found. A Cochrane library search (February 2011), MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL realized only 1 research whose results were as follows; women taught self-hypnosis had decreased requirements for pharmacological analgesia (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.79, five trials 749 women) including epidural analgesia (RR 0.30, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.40. Acupuncture and hypnosis may be beneficial for the management of pain during labor; however, the number of women studied has been small.

The Trust system does not monitor the use of hypnosis as pain relief despite women using it however, acupuncture is monitored. Recently the daily telegraph (2011), reported that the National Health Service (NHS) launched an 18-month study of ‘‘hypnobirthing’’ to try to cut the use of epidurals and other painkillers during childbirth – six out of 10 mothers in some hospitals rely on expensive drugs and this has resurrected an old debate. Is intense pain unavoidable, or is it triggered by fear and tension?

Multicentre pragmatic exploratory non-blinded randomized controlled trial (SHIP trial), at Central Lancashire University involving more than 800 women will investigate self-hypnosis techniques for intrapartum pain management which induces a deep sense of relaxation. Interestingly, to note is the fact that NHS despite the financial difficulties it is facing (Kings Fund) is committed to the choice agenda, hypnobirthing could be one of the answers to save the NHS and improve the lives of women and babies.

According to Salvage, Health services in the UK are facing major challenges in the context of drastic public funding. Salvage (2011) wonders how the choice agenda be upheld in these turbulent times. Hypnobirthing could be an answer in reduction of intervention like the use of epidural, reduction in caesareans sections, and increase in normal birth. Hence the need to understand this model as well as have agreed pathways of how it is to be managed. There is a choice: SoMs and midwives could be passive or try to lead and influence change.