Assessment of the use of the new maternity case record in improving the quality of ante natal care in eThekwini District, KwaZulu-Natal

Maureen Nokuthula Sibiya,Reginah Jabulisile Cele,Thembelihle Sylvia Patience Ngxongo

doi:10.1016/j.ijans.2015.04.002

Abstract

The national guidelines for maternity care in South Africa recommend that a standardised maternity case record be used by all facilities at all levels of care in order to improve the quality of care for pregnant women. This will facilitate continuity and quality of care for women during pregnancy, labour and post-partum. The aim of the study was to assess the use of the maternity case record in improving the quality of the antenatal care for pregnant women. An exploratory, descriptive study using both quantitative and qualitative design was used to conduct the study. Data was collected through a retrospective record review using a checklist for the quantitative strand, and from midwives using unstructured interviews for the qualitative strand. The quantitative data set was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21.0 and the qualitative strand was analysed using the Tesch’s method of data analysis. The results of the record review revealed that although the recording was done fairly well, there were a number of activities and interventions that were recorded poorly or not recorded at all in some primary health care clinics. The midwives verbalised that many mistakes and mismanagement of ante-natal care clients emanated from the structure and the design of the new maternity case record.

Highlights

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDYAccording to the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2014) almost all maternal deaths (99%) occur in developing countries with more than half of these deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa
South Africa has adopted the recommendation by the WHO to use antenatal care (ANC) as one of the strategies to fight this problem of maternal death (Pattinson 2007: 7)
2.6 CONCLUSION Chapter 2 presented literature that explores the different ways of approaching prenatal care and antenatal care, especially in record keeping from other countries, in order to assess if the quality of antenatal care is improved

Summary

Introduction

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDYAccording to the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2014) almost all maternal deaths (99%) occur in developing countries with more than half of these deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. The review of records was conducted during the quantitative phase This phase was intended to achieve the first two objectives of the study which were to: 1) assess the midwives’ documentation and use of the new maternity case record during ANC service provision; and 2) assess the midwives’ understanding of the new maternity case record card. The discussion will aim to portray whether the three objectives of the study were achieved These were: to assess the midwives’ documentation and use of the new maternity case record during ANC service provision; to assess the midwives’ understanding of the new maternity case record; and to determine how the use of the new maternity case record influenced the management of care of pregnant women

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion