Effectiveness of maternity units in selected base hospitals in western province

Abstract

The input variable for maternity services were assessed in terms of availability of human resources, infra-structure and equipment, supportive services, and monitoring and evaluation. The performance of maternity units was determined by outcome of admissions, delivery practices, status of the mother and the newborn and patient satisfaction. Data was collected using specially designed checklists, questionnaires and data sheets. Principal investigator and trained data collectors gathered data by visiting institutions and field during the study period. Premature Baby Units and Intensive Care facilities were available in all maternity units, however, inadequacy of trained personnel was observed in all. The accessibility to these specialized units was unsatisfactory in many institutions mainly due to poor planning and unavailability of master plans for institutions. The hospitals were categorized into two groups i.e. group with better management (A) and the group with poor management (B) based on the rank obtained using two criteria, availability of resources and management of available resources. The overall assessment showed that group A hospitals which had better management practices led to favorable maternal outcomes, better quality of services and higher patient satisfaction compared to Group B. The findings highlighted that good management with adequate resources; capacity building of staff, regular monitoring and supervision resulted in improved performance of the maternity units reviewed in this study. The correlation test applied to determine the relationship between independent and outcome variables also showed that hospitals with improved performance had a positive correlation with monitoring supervision, training and skill development as opposed to the availability of human resources and infrastructure facilities