Zhang hongyu was born in the Shandong province of China in 1964. She is a registered midwife and vice professor of the nursing department of Hainan medical college. She has an MD in nursing and is a first-year doctoral student in Nanfang medical university in Canton, China. She is doing research on evidence-based nursing in obstetrics and gynecology nursing, focusing in normal delivery care. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected], or at her Web site (in Chinese) at www.cnzcs.com. She also welcomes visitors.
Photo by Héctor Martínez
Country Contacts – Issue 132
Photo by Dong Xu Wang
Hospital delivery is the dominant mode for pregnant women in China, and women are advised to go to hospital when labor starts. There is often a time gap during which women in labor wonder whether they should go to hospital or stay at home. Usually they go too early and end up waiting in the hospital for days—especially women in their first labor. This can cause increasing anxiety with the passing time, and the normal labor process will be interrupted by complex hospital protocols. But staying at home also brings anxiety because women and family members worry about the process of labor. There are several ways to resolve pre-labor anxiety: birth education, a maternity waiting home near hospital, and a center for normal birth will work in different ways to relieve the anxiety and help women have a natural birth.
Read more…. Bridging the Gap between Home and Hospital: Pre-labor Doula Service in Hayi
Photo by Christian Joudrey
Traditional Chinese Medicine is a summary of ancient practice experiences, rather than the results of randomized controlled trials. This article uses evidence from modern scientific knowledge to determine whether TCM theories of normal delivery are well-supported by evidence-based medicine.
