As the anesthesiologist, you enter the delivery room and look around. The obstetrician is at the foot of the bed, the labor and delivery nurse is measuring the vital signs, the patient's partner is holding her hand. And then your eyes land on another person: the doula. Who is this? Why is this person there? What should we know about them?
The doula concept originates from the ancient Greeks, where birthing mothers had helpers. Dana Raphael, a medical anthropologist, coined the term doula in 1969. She described a doula as a nonmedical support woman who assisted mothers through childbirth and post-partum. In 1992, the first training and certification program, Doulas of North America (DONA), was established. This organization defines the role and limitation of doulas, stating they will not perform clinical or medical tasks such as measuring blood pressure or temperature, monitoring the fetal heart rate, etc., nor diagnose or...
