Methods
This work is part of a project commissioned by the WHO, for the management of uneventful and complicated labours, to complement WHO intrapartum care guidelines, and facilitate the development of electronic evidence-based, decision-support tools by stakeholders, to improve labour outcomes in low-resource settings 18
We developed algorithms for two case scenarios, based on findings of a review on slow labour progress (first and second stage), identification of the most common deviations, severity of related complications or clinical outcomes and discussion with the WHO Intrapartum Care Algorithms Working Group. These were as follows: slow progress of first and second stage. We also included fetal abnormal presentation as a contributing factor for progression abnormalities in both scenarios.
A detailed description of the methodology used for the development of these algorithms is provided in elsewhere. 19