Evaluating Effectiveness of MEOWS Tool in Identifying Maternal Deterioration in Women Receiving Care among Nurses in Maternity Unit, at General Hospital, Dammam

Abstract

Pregnant women are at risk of obstetric emergencies at all stages of life, including before, during, and after delivery. The lack of tools to help signal healthcare providers to initiate treatment can impact caregivers who cannot rely entirely on clinical judgment. Therefore, to avoid poor maternal outcomes due to delays or errors in maternal management, it is important that all midwifery staff understand the 'early warning signs' and are able to assess the clinical status of the mother using the MEOWS tool. This quantitative design study of the action research type using a cross-sectional method was conducted from October 2017 to July 2020 at the Maternity Unit, NGHA Dammam. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing maternal early warning signs to identify maternal deterioration and reduce maternal transfer to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The data collected is related to the number of mothers transferred to the ICU in the absence of educational training related to the MEOWS tool in the health care system from October 2017 until October 2018. Data related to the number of mothers transferred to the ICU due to deterioration was collected and compared with the data on the number of mothers admitted to the ICU after the MEOWS tool was fully implemented in June 2019 until July 2020. A total of thirty-three (N = 33) nurses participated in this survey and passed tests related to maternal warning signs. There are more than three quarters of them showing good knowledge about early warning signs of mothers with a mean score of 1.98 (SD = 0.402), reaching a mean score of 1.99 (SD = 0.179), which reflects a good attitude towards the practice (mean score = 2.00; SD =0.000). However, the results showed that none of the tested variables, including age, highest qualification, marital status, and years of work experience, had a significant relationship with their level of knowledge in identifying maternal impairment using MEOWS. The statistics of the mother's transfer to the ICU were also found to decrease compared to before the implementation of MEOWS in the system. This study suggests that MEOWS should be practiced among nurses in the maternity unit, improving the midwifery syllabus and continuing nurses' competence related to MEOWS practice.