The views of pregnant women, midwives, and a women's panel on intrapartum ultrasound research: A pilot study

Background Ultrasound is increasingly used in labour; however, little data exist on attitudes to its use. We sought to analyse and compare the views of pregnant women, midwives, and a women's panel on the value and use of ultrasound in labour. Methods Focus groups involving a short presentation on ultrasound, questionnaire, and a question and answer session were held with groups of pregnant women, midwives at 2 inner‐city maternity units, and a RCOG online Women's Panel. Data were collected on attitudes to vaginal examination, ultrasound, predicting Caesarean section, and the utility of a digital representation of labour. Results Twenty one midwives and 29 service users (19 pregnant women and 10 women's panel members) participated. Significantly more service users saw positive value in intrapartum ultrasound (P = 0.0005) and predicting Caesarean section (P = 0.03) than midwives. The majority of both groups – 72% (20/29) and 62% (13/21), respectively – thought women would want a digital representation of their labour, with the most popular format being on a mobile phone (56%, 20/36). Conclusions Service users were most and midwives least positive about ultrasound versus vaginal examination, indicating divergence between midwives' perspective of women's need to understand risk and desire to know about their labour. Women found the non‐intrusive nature and accuracy of ultrasound valuable while midwives were concerned about de‐skilling and medicalisation of birth. All groups felt a graphical representation of labour on a device would be helpful