264397_Rurangirwa,A_2018.pdf (806.77 kB)
Quality of antenatal care services in Rwanda: assessing practices of health care providers
journal contribution
posted on 2022-04-27, 07:20 authored by AA Rurangirwa, Ingrid MogrenIngrid Mogren, J Ntaganira, K Govender, G KrantzBackground: Although most pregnant women in Rwanda visit antenatal care (ANC) clinics, little has been studied about the quality of services being provided. We investigated the ANC providers' (HCPs) current practices in relation to prevention, management and referral of maternal conditions as well as the information provided to pregnant women attending ANC services in Rwanda. Methods: This facility-based, cross-sectional study included 312 ANC providers as participants and a review of 605 ANC medical records from 121 health centers. Data collection was performed using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and a structured observation checklist. For the analyses, descriptive statistics and bi-and multivariable logistic regression were used. Results: Nurses and midwives in ANC services failed to report a number of pregnancy-related conditions that would need urgent referral to a higher level of health care. Midwives did somewhat better than nurses in reporting these conditions. There was no statistically significant difference in how nurses and midwives informed pregnant women about pregnancy-related issues. Ever been trained in how to manage a pregnant woman exposed to violence was reported by 14% of the participants. In 12, 13 and 15% of the medical records there was no report on tetanus immunization, anthelmintic treatment and syphilis testing, respectively. Conclusion: The providers in ANC clinics reported suboptimal practices on conditions of pregnancy that needed urgent referral for adequate management. Information to pregnant women on danger signs of pregnancy, recommended medicines and tests do not seem to be consistently provided. Midwifery training in Rwanda should be expanded so that most of staff at ANC clinics are trained as midwives to help lower maternal and child mortality and morbidity.
Funding
This study forms part of the Maternal Health Research Programme (MaTHeR) undertaken by the University of Rwanda in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg and Umea University in Sweden. The study was made possible by financial support from The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). SIDA had no role in any part of the design, data collection, data analyses, interpretation of the results and writing of the manuscript.
History
Publication Date
2018-01-01Journal
BMC Health Services ResearchVolume
18Issue
1Article Number
865Pagination
10p.Publisher
BioMed CentralISSN
1472-6963Rights Statement
© The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Publisher DOI
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No categories selectedKeywords
Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineHealth Care Sciences & ServicesAntenatal careQuality of careAntenatal care providersPracticesRwandaBURKINA-FASODETERMINANTSWOMENAdultAmbulatory Care FacilitiesCross-Sectional StudiesData AccuracyData CollectionFemaleHealth PersonnelHumansMidwiferyPregnancyPregnancy ComplicationsPrenatal CareProfessional PracticeQuality of Health CareReferral and ConsultationYoung AdultHealth Policy & Services