الفهرس 
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Abstract
The partograph is a graphic recording of progress of labor and salient conditions of the mother and fetus. Its use is widely recommended in order to improve the maternal and fetal outcomes. Partograph is also a key to the appropriate prevention and treatment of prolonged labor and its complication.
The partograph has been in use in a numbers of countries, and used extensively in a few. One primary reason for this is the lack of conviction felt about its usefulness by decision – makers and some leaders of the profession. Another main obstacle to widespread use of the partograph is the existence of so many varieties , which make the potential new user at loss.
In spite of the presence of the partograph among the parturient’s sheets in some hospitals, yet it is not always used. At the some time, factors associated with its use were seldom explored, so, this study was conducted to explore factors associated with the use of partograph among nurses in maternity hospitals in Alexandria.
The study was carried out on a convenient sample of 100 nurses , who were picked–up by the non–probability sampling technique and who were working at labor and delivery units of El–Shatby Maternity University Hospital, Dar-Ismail Hospital (Ministry of Health and Population ), Gamel Abdel Nasser Hospital (Health Insurance ) and Dar El –Welada Hospital (Medical Care Organization).
A self –administered questionnaire sheet was developed and used by the researcher to elicit information about general characteristics of nurses as well as their knowledge and utilization regarding partograph. It was tested for content validity by ten juries who were expert in the related field.
A pilot study was carried out on 10 nurses (excluded from the study subjects) to test the relevance, validity and clarity of the tool as well as the time needed to complete it.
Collection of data covered a period of three months, from the beginning of March till the end of May 2005. The questionnaire sheet was conducted in 10-20 minutes. The collected data was categorized, computerized, tabulated and analyzed using percentages, mean and standard deviation as well as scoring system. Significance tests were also used such as Chi- Square test and Fisher Exact test.