Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in 2011 on 250 women during latent phase admitted to Tabriz Taleghani Hospital in which they were randomly selected for the survey. A five part questionnaire was used for data collection aimed to investigate (respectively) demographic characteristics, Partograph form, evaluating checklists of second, third and forth stages of labor, the results of a pre-discharge examination and also the first ten days after childbirth

Results: According to the findings 187 of the labors were stimulated by oxytocin induction (74.8%) while 18.8% of the oxytocin treated women were hypotonic, 139 (55.6%) underwent amniotomy, 6.8% of the fetus had FHR abnormalities including Bradicardia and tachycardia. No neonatal deaths were reported and just 2 of the newborns were admitted to the neonatal ward. Of the total 28 (11.2%) had prolonged latent phase and 54 (21.6%) of the patients had prolonged active phase of labor. The mean drop in hemoglobin and hematocrit rates during admission for delivery was, respectively, 1.35± 1.41 and 3.8 ± 4.1.

Conclusion: Admission in the latent phase of labor is associated with increased length of labor and stay in postnatal ward, increased maternal and infant complications and interventions. Therefore it is recommended that all the women should be given adequate training during pregnancy. They also should be advised that in the absence of medical problems it is best to be admitted when active labor begins to prevent many complications .