Introduction: Women who give birth often suffer injuries of the genital tract. Perineal trauma can occur spontaneously, with the use of surgical episiotomy, or both. Perineal protection techniques are an important factor in perineal protection, the most common being the "hands-on" and "hands-off" technique. Purpose: The objective of this thesis is to present various methods for perineal protection, including the “hands-on” and “hands-off” technique of perineal management. We want to find out which protection technique is more favorable for a woman. Methods: This bachelor's thesis is based on a descriptive method of examining scientific and profesional literature. The literature search in English was acquired by searcing for the keywords "hands on", "hands off", "perineal laceration", "positions for labour" in the databases CINAHL, COBISS, Cohrane Library, DiKUL, MEDLINE, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Springer Link, in English and Slovene, the date of publication of the sources did not exceed ten years. Results: The majority perineal trauma occur at the end of the second stage of labour. The "hands on" technique results in higher frequency of episiotomy and perineal pain. Regarding the incidence of perineal lacerations, perineal pain in the second stage of labour and incidence of postpartum hemorrhage, the results of including studies are not uniform. Discussion and conclusion: A lack of information in relevant areas of research leads us to fail to determine which approach toward perineal protection is more favorable to a woman. Due to variance in definition, these two approaches are difficult to compare. Besides perineal protection techniques there are many other techniques that play an important role in perineal tear prevention, such as birthing positions, pushing techniques, perineal massage and support of medical personnel. Midwifery students need to be informed about various techniques so they can present in the working environment different approaches to protecting perineum during childbirth and make informed decisions together with women in labour.
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