Bridget Ferguson

The rise in maternal morbidity and mortality has increased both national and international attention to the optimisation of systems for early recognition and response to deterioration in pregnant, labouring and postnatal women. Identifying and addressing complications at the earliest opportunity significantly increases rates of survival, thus making it extremely important for health care providers such as midwives to recognise early warning signs of deterioration. The aim of this study is to generate a substantive grounded theory that explains midwives' use of Modified Early Obstetric Warning Systems/Tool (MEOWS) whilst undertaking clinical decision making during intrapartum care.

The impact of this study is improvement in clinical care, early warning systems and to reduce adverse outcomes and the associated financial and emotional costs for patients, families, health professionals and health services. The principle objectives of this proposed research are: 1. Illuminate how midwives use the MEOWS for clinical decision making during intrapartum care. 2. Identify contextual factors that influence midwives when using MEOWS for clinical decision making during intrapartum care. 3. Discern the challenges/barriers and facilitators that midwives experience in using MEOWS. 4. Identify outcomes for the midwives' clinical decision making resulting from use of the MEOWS.