Staff Training Reduces Postpartum Bleeding, Episiotomies

An intensive educational program for physicians and midwives that stresses giving women the drug oxytocin just after a vaginal delivery resulted in significantly fewer cases of excessive bleeding, according to a study done in two South American countries.

Oxytocin helps contract the uterus and stop uterine bleeding. If the uterus fails to contract after detachment of the placenta, or ruptures or tears in the uterus and other tissues occur during birthing, postpartum hemorrhage can occur.

the surgical cutting of the skin between the vagina and anus -- is not beneficial in preventing tearing of the vagina during the birth process.

"It can be difficult to change accepted medical practices," Duane Alexander, director of the National Institutes of Health's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "This successful intervention offers an effective model that can be translated into education programs suitable for interventions throughout the United States and ...