Abstract

Obstructed and prolonged labours are major causes of maternal death. To alleviate this problem, obstetrics care providers’ knowledge on the basic obstetrics case management is crucial which include partograph use. Partograph is a cost-effective single sheet of paper used to follow fetal, maternal condition and progress of labour. The objective of this study is to assess knowledge of obstetrics care providers on partograph and associated factors in Wolaita zone southern, Ethiopia, 2016. All 442 obstetrics care providers in the zone were included. Data were collected with pretested and structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were entered in Epidata and exported to statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) for analysis. Logistic regression was used to identify significant factor. P value < 0.05 was considered as significant variable. Knowledge of obstetrics care provider in the study area is 72.6%. Age, formal education, health facility and on job training were the variables which shows significant association with knowledge of partograph use. In conclusion, low level of knowledge was recorded in the study area. Providing formal education, on job training, working on women older than 30 and on Hospitals are very important in enhancing care providers knowledge on partograph.

Key words: Ethiopia, knowledge, partograph utilization.