Public Policy and Administration (Dec 2022)
PATIENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE QUALITY OF OBSTETRIC SERVICES IN A TERTIARY LEVEL OBSTETRIC FACILITY UNIT
Abstract
The growing recognition of patients’ roles as key evaluators of service quality in the healthcare quality improvement process – as well as periodic media coverage of adverse birth experiences, such as postpartum depression, that place burdens on mothers and society in general – encourages a broader examination of the aspects that form the quality of midwifery services. The relevance of this topic is also determined by the emphasis on the role of the obstetric service sector in the Lithuanian Health Programme, which provides long-term directions for improving the quality of services provided to mothers. Quality assurance of maternity services is also one of the main scopes of the World Health Organization’s activity. The aim of this study is to evaluate the attitudes of patients towards the quality of obstetric services provided. A quantitative survey was conducted at a tertiary level obstetric facility unit involving 309 women who had given birth. Respondents participated in the study by submitting a service quality evaluation questionnaire, and the total internal reliability of the questionnaire was 0.966. The research revealed that, although the quality of maternity services in the institution where the research was conducted was assessed as high, the need for women to actively participate in their health care process is not ensured sufficiently and communicative aspects of the provision of services can be improved. Women who undergo vaginal delivery and have episiotomies, as well as women who are not guaranteed early contact with the newborn immediately after giving birth, require special attention on behalf of the medical staff. This is first ensured by realizing the need for effective communication between the patient and healthcare specialists in order to improve the quality of the services provided. Assessing rapid changes in the healthcare service quality field and the constant emergence of new factors defining quality of services, it becomes obvious that standard quality assessment questionnaires for obstetric situations must be constantly reviewed, and quality assessment must be carried out periodically using questionnaires focused specifically on obstetrical practice.
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