Background and Objective: Poor postnatal care can increase morbidity and mortality. This study assessed the current deficiencies in quality of postnatal care provided to mothers in Lady Aitchison hospital, Lahore when compared to WHO standards and identifies the areas for quality improvement. Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study which employs quantitative method to collect and analyze the data. It was conducted to include ninety-six maternities attending the wards of Lady Aitchison Hospital, Lahore during January 2022 to February 2022. Consenting post-partum mothers were selected by random sampling and interviewed by using a structured proforma. Results: Among 96 mothers, 56% were below 25 years of age, 39% had secondary education, with more than one child (71%) and 57% visited for the first time. Majority of mothers, were given medicine timely (82%) and found the attitude (85%) and information (83%) provided by the healthcare workers helpful. Their subjective satisfaction rate with staff was 90%. The main areas of concern were lack of proper examination guidelines and facilities, limited information to mothers regarding neonatal care and substandard interior of hospitals. The statistics on the detailed maternal and neonatal examination showed that it was left out in 30% to 50% patients. Information regarding the danger signs of mothers and neonates was not given in 69% and information on family planning was provided to only 28%. Contentment with the infrastructure of the hospital was subpar and it was suggested that the sanitary conditions of washrooms and the paraphernalia of the wards i.e., ACs and beds needed improvement. Conclusions: This study suggests that in developing countries like Pakistan, majority of the patients were satisfied by the services of healthcare workers. The prime improvement area is the infra-structure of the hospital which can be upgraded to provide better quality facilities in terms of air-conditioning, washrooms and well-designed areas for extensive examination of breast, pelvis, abdomen and neonates. There is also need for introduction of standard guidelines for postnatal care. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.3.6780 How to cite this: Mahmood A, Eusaph AZ, Javed A, Muzaffar A. Exploring areas of improvement in postnatal care services in a tertiary care hospital in Lahore. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(3):732-736. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.3.6780 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Objective:To assess current quality of postnatal care in tertiary hospital in Lahore to identify areas for further improvement.Design:It was descriptive cross-sectional study which employed quantitative method to collect and analyze data.Setting:Lady Aitchison Hospital-a tertiary hospital in Lahore.Population:Ninety-six maternities admitted in wards of Lady Aitchison hospital during December 2021 to January 2022.Method:After IRB approval, consent was taken from mothers selected by random sampling and interviewed using Donabedian framework performa.Outcome Measures:Satisfaction with structure,process and outcome of delivery in postpartum mothers were assessed.Results:Among 96 mothers,56% were below 25 years of age,39% had secondary education,with more than one child(71%) and 57% visited for the first time.Majority of mothers,were given medicine timely(82%) and found attitude(85%) and information(83%) provided by healthcare workers helpful.Their subjective satisfaction rate with staff was 90%.However,there was lack of proper guidelines and facilities for examination,limited counselling of mothers regarding neonatal care and substandard interior of hospitals.Vital steps such as neonatal and maternal abdominopelvic,general and wound examination were left out in upto 30%. Information regarding danger signs of mothers and neonates was not given to 69% and information on family planning was given in only 28%.Contentment with infrastructure of hospital was subpar and it was suggested that sanitary conditions of washrooms and paraphernalia i.e.heaters and beds needed improvement.Conclusions:This study suggests that although patients were satisfied by services of healthcare workers,the infra-structure of hospital can be upgraded to provide better quality facilities in terms of air-conditioning,washrooms and well-designed areas for extensive examination of breast,pelvis,abdomen and neonates with introduction of WHO guidelines for postnatal care.
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