Knowledge and practice of active management of third stage of labour among nursing personnel of selected hospitals in West Bengal

Background: Active management of third stage of labor is a crucial intervention to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. It involves a series of steps, such as administering uterotonic drugs, controlled cord traction, and uterine massage. Methods: Descriptive research design was used. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 48 nursing personnel working in selected hospitals of West Bengal. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview schedule and a knowledge interview schedule through interviews and an observational checklist on AMTSL through observation. Results: Study results revealed that 6.25%, 37.50%, 29.17% and 27.08% of nursing personnel had excellent, very good, good and poor knowledge, respectively and 22.92%, 33.33%, 16.67% and 27.08% of them had poor, average, good and very good practice respectively with 87.50% gap between ongoing practice of examination of placenta and practice recommended by WHO. There was a statistically significant association between practice with in-service educational training, years of experience in the labour room and knowledge of AMTSL was related to practice of AMTSL among nursing personnel (r=0.35) at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusions: It can be concluded that knowledge is associated with practice, increase in knowledge level increases practice.