HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES MIDWIFERY AND OBSTETRICAL NURSING

1. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPERARY PERSPECTIVES
Midwifery is as old as the history of human species. Archeological
evidence of a woman squatting in children supported by another
woman from behind demonstrates the existence of midwifery in
5000 BC. There are references to the midwives in the Old
Testament. Genesis 35:17 “And it came to pass , when she was in
hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, fear not Rachel, it is
another boy”.
Hippocrates (460 BC), the father of scientific medicine, organized
trained and supervised midwives. Hippocrates believed that the
fetus had to fight its way out of the womb and the membranes. The
efforts of Hippocrates were not appreciated by the midwives.
Aristotle (384-322 BC), the father of embryology, described the
uterus and the female pelvic organs. He also discussed the essential
qualities of the midwife.
Soranus, in the second century, was the first to specialize in
obstetrics and gynecology. His book was used for 1.500 years. He
used a vaginal speculum, advised on cord care, and wet nursing.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519),made anatomical drawings of
pregnant uterus.
Vesalius in 1543, opened the full term pregnant uterus on a lower
animal, extracted the fetus, and demonstrated uterus as a single
chamber organ.
Ambroise Pare (1510-1590), laid the foundations of modern
obstetics. He performed internal podalic versions and skillfully
delivered woman. He was the first to deliver a woman in bed
instead of the birthing-stool. He also sutured perineal lacerations.

2. Ambroise Pare founded a school for midwife trained by Pare,
attended the ladies of the French court.
Juius Caeser Aranzi WROTE THE FIRST BOOK FOR Italian
midwives, which ran seventeen editions. He advised cesarean
secton for contracted pelvis. He described the raw placental surface
and initiated the study of uterine sepsis.
The French king louis XIV in 1663, employed a Paris surgeon to
attend one of his mistresses in labor, and pleased with the result
the king honored the surgeon with the title “accouters”(a person
who assists women in childbirth).
Mauriceau in 1668, published a treatise an midwifery.
Chamberlen in 1675, designed obstetric forceps.
William Smellie (1697-1763), is called the father of British
midwifery. He explained labor to be a mechanical process and
described pelvimetry, cephalometrt and forceps delivery of the
after coming head of a breech. The chair of midwifery was
founded in 1726 in the University of Edinburgh.
John Leake(1972), replaced the obstetric stool by special delivery
beds.
Charles White in 1773, stated that puerperal fever was infectious.
He used lime as disinfectant, and clean linen, isolation, adequate
ventilation and sitting posture to facilitate drainage.
Fielding ould(1710-1789), described the mechanism of normal
labor and performed the first episiotomy.
Gordon in 1795, described puerperal sepsis as a wound
contamination of placental site.

3. Laennec in 1816, invented a stethoscope.
Francois in1818, first recognized fetal heart sounds in the
pregnant uterus.
James Young Simpson in 1847, used chloroform first in
obstetrics for anesthesia.
Florence Nightingale in 1862, organized a small training school
in connection with King’s College Hospiatl where she conducted
training for midwives.
Semmelweiss in 1861, demonstrated the cause of puerperal sepsis
and suggested preventive measures.
Louis Pasteur in 1879, wrote a thesis on puerperal sepsis
demonstrating the presence of streptococci in the lochia, blood and
in fetal cases in the peritoneal cavity.
Spencer and Ballantyne promoted the concept of antenatal care
for pregnant woman.
France Mauriceau, A France obstetrician, first reported cesarean
section in 1668.
Porro performed sub-total hysterectomy in 1876.
Max Sanger in 1882, first sutured the uterine walls.
In 1912, Kronig introduced lower segment vertical incision and it
was popularized by De Lee (1922).
Munro Kerr in 1926 introduced the present technique of lower
segment cesarean operation and popularized it.