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CONSECUENCIAS DEL USO DE OXITOCINA SINTÉTICA EN EL MANEJO DEL PARTO HOSPITALARIO
Authors: Garnica Martínez, I
Number of views: 223
During the last century the management of childbirth has undergone an intense transformation. Until half a century ago, most deliveries took place in the pregnant woman’s own home, assisted by a midwife, where health conditions were generally not optimal (no running water and heating) as well as the nutritional and health conditions of many women. All this, together with the fact that the number of children was high and the short inter-seasonal space, made the maternal and infant mortality rate during childbirth very high.
Over the years, the practice of giving birth in the hospital was imposed, which significantly reduced these mortality rates. However, the process of hospitalization of births also brought with it some negative consequences: an increase in the number of caesarean sections, episiotomies and inductions of childbirth far above the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and, in general, a "dehumanization" of the process.
With the rigid application of hospital protocols and the widespread use of epidural analgesia in childbirth, It is extremely common to disconnect women with their experiences and use techniques and drugs to conduct a childbirth in which the complex hormonal mechanism that guides it is disrupted. One of the most widely used drugs in obstetrics, along with anesthetics, is synthetic oxytocin in order to produce or increase the number and intensity of uterine contractions. The use of this endogenous oxytocin analogue causes the hormonal feedback system to be interrupted and the endogenous oxytocin secretion to be completely modified.
The most well-known physiological functions of oxytocin have to do with the production of contractions as an engine of childbirth and the initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding. However, it has been found that the hormone oxytocin is responsible for modulating many behaviors of relationship and attachment of the human being among other functions, of which, there is still a great ignorance.
This literature review attempts to explain what short- and long-term consequences the massive use of synthetic oxytocin may have during in-hospital management of childbirth.