Background: The partogram is a preprinted paper on which labour observations are recorded.The aim of the partogram is to provide a pictorial overview of labour, to alert midwives or obstetricians to deviations in maternal or fetal wellbeing and labour progress. Objective: To compare the efficacy of WHO and paperless partograph in the management of labour and to determine which is more user friendly. Materials and Methods: Thestudy was conducted in PESIMSR, Kuppam over 200 uncomplicated pregnant women. WHO partograph was used in 100 and paperless partograph was used in another 100 women. In WHO partograph group conventionally P/V examination was performed every two hours, where as in paperless partograph, alert ETD (Expected Time of Delivery) and action ETD were noted. Per vaginal examination was done only at alert and action ETD. We tried to determine which partograph was more user friendly. We also noted the duration of labour, number of P/V examinations, usage of syntocinon and infectious morbidity in both mother and fetus. Results: In the present study the labour was augmented in 11% in Paperless partograph group and 41% in WHO partograph group (<0.001). The success rate in terms of spontaneous vaginal delivery was 74 and 44% in Paperless partograph and WHO partograph groups which was stastically significant. The Paperless partograph has the advantage of promoting normal course of labour with less interventions. Conclusions: Paperless partograph is very simple to understand and implement even in rural setup and by midwives with minimal training. As the sample size in this study was small and the time period over which it was conducted was less we are including only low risk pregnancies further study is required to its applicility for larger group of patients and in high risk pregnancies.

Keywords: WHO Partograph; Paperless Partograph; User Friendly.