Resum
Perhaps no other health profession has quite
the same opportunity as nurses for disseminating
knowledge on family planning. Experience has
shown that the period following delivery, before
the mother leaves the hospital, has been one of
the most productive periods for finding patients
who are interested in family planning. Whatever
the contraceptive method prescribed by the physician,
the nurse has the responsibility to make
sure that the patient understands the measures
taken and has someone to turn to should she
experience any difficulty. Furthermore, the nurse
has many other opportunities of providing information
on fertility regulation during the visits
she makes to famihes as well as in the family
planning clinics, since she is the first person the
patient meets.
In many countries, maternity mortality rates
are high, and the chief cause is death from hemorrage
or infection following induced abortion.
This situation has led to greater acceptance of
family planning and its details and procedures, for example, pelvic examinations, Papanicolaou
smears, IUD insertions, and administration of
oral contraceptives which were formerly considered
as being within the sole competence of the
physician are now being reassessed in terms of
nurse’s abilities and responsibilities. In some
countries, midwives and nurse-midwives have
been carrying out these procedures for a number
of years, but underlying al1 the activities and functions
of the nurse in family planning are her
attitudes towards the role of women in society,
her awareness and acceptance of her own sexuality,
and her understanding of the social, cultural
and religious mores of the environment in
which she works. Ideally, the nurse who works
in a family planning program should be a warm,
sensitive person who can approach all areas of
discussion of the reproductive process with ease,
lack of embarrassment, empathy, and understanding
of the patient’s needs and right to information.