Postnatal Palpation Essay

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Postnatal Palpation Palpation of the uterus forms part of the daily postnatal examination undertaken by the midwife. (skills). The uterus undergoes significant physiological changes during the peurperium known as ‘involution’ (veralls). It is these changes that midwives assess as part of their daily postnatal examination. In addition to palpation of the uterus, the midwife will assess and monitor other physiological changes such as vaginal blood loss and signs and symptoms of infection in the woman as these form an important part of the postnatal check in regards to assessing uterine involution. However, there is debate surrounding the effectiveness of palpating the uterus during the postnatal period in relation to preventing or predicting deviations from the norm, with the palpation element considered an invasive and inaccurate method of assessment. This report will discuss the issues surrounding the debate of abdominal palpation in assessing uterine involution in relation to midwifery practice; it will also discuss the physiology of uterine involution and blood loss during the peurperium. The literature search began with devising a plan of what direction the report would follow. This started with a review of midwifery theory, clinical skills, and research. The literature search was refined by defining key words while gathering information from various literature sources, these included midwifery, and obstetric textbooks, Journals relating to midwifery such as The British Journal of Midwifery, The Cochrane Library, and MIDIRS to form my critique. Involution is the process whereby the uterus and other reproductive organs return to their state prior to pregnancy it is is a normal physiological process characterised by a decrease in size of the uterus, changes in its position within the pelvic cavity and variation in tone. Immediately after delivery, uterine

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