Midwives’ knowledge of the basic antenatal care (BANC) approach in healthcare facilities in the Central Karoo District
- Authors: Jonkers, Roselien
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pregnant women -- Health and hygiene , Hospitals -- Maternity services -- South Africa Maternal health services Midwifery -- South Africa Primary health care -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/30562 , vital:30961
- Description: In South Africa, the main causes of maternal and neonatal deaths are related to challenges of the healthcare system. Quality antenatal care is an essential component in the fight against maternal and neonatal deaths. Hence, South Africa introduced the basic antenatal care (BANC) approach to augment the existing antenatal care system. However, BANC does not appear to be operating optimally throughout the country. Healthcare facilities in the Central Karoo District do not appear to be utilising it effectively. The aim of the study was to explore and describe the knowledge of midwives of the BANC approach in healthcare facilities of the Central Karoo District. A quantitative, explorative, descriptive, and contextual design was used to explore and describe midwives’ knowledge of the BANC approach in healthcare facilities in the Central Karoo District. For the purposes of this study the researcher used a census approach (all-inclusive sampling) since the population was small. All midwives working in Central Karoo District healthcare facilities, who met the inclusion criteria, were asked to participate in the study. There were a total of 71 midwives, and 16 healthcare facilities in the Central Karoo District. The sample was drawn from 10 healthcare facilities and four hospitals that were implementing BANC services. Altogether 54 midwives participated in the study. The midwives’ knowledge of the BANC approach was tested through a questionnaire. To enhance reliability, the researcher made use of a pilot study to eliminate unclear items, and to moderate the degree of difficulty of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was piloted on seven midwives in order to ensure that the data collection instrument was reliable and valid. The following ethical considerations, based on the Belmont Report, were followed throughout the research process: beneficence, justice and respect for persons. The majority of antenatal care is delivered by midwives at the primary healthcare facilities. It is thus critical that midwives have the required knowledge to function independently without the support of a doctor, and are able to refer to the next level iii of care when required. Such knowledge may lead to an early detection of abnormal clinical signs which could in turn improve the pregnancy outcome of pregnant women. This study suggests that the provision of BANC services to pregnant women may not be correctly implemented because many midwives’ appear to lack knowledge of certain aspects of the BANC approach. Based on the study’s results it was evident that there is a need for BANC training to be conducted and monitored at the health facilities in the Central Karoo.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Effectiveness of the basic antenatal care package in primary health care clinics
- Authors: Snyman, J S
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Pregnant women -- Health and hygiene , Hospitals -- Maternity services -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Evaluation , Maternal health services
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCur
- Identifier: vital:10037 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/728 , Pregnant women -- Health and hygiene , Hospitals -- Maternity services -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Evaluation , Maternal health services
- Description: Pregnancy challenges the health care system in a unique way in that it involves at least two individuals – the woman and the fetus. The death rates of both pregnant women (maternal mortality) and newborns (perinatal mortality) are often used to indicate the quality of care the health system is providing. In terms of maternal and perinatal outcomes South Africa scores poorly compared to other upper-middle income countries (Penn-Kekana & Blaauw, 2002:14). The high stillbirth rate compared to the neonatal death rate reflects poor quality of antenatal care. Maternal and perinatal mortality is recognised as a problem and as a priority for action in the Millennium Development Goals (Thieren & Beusenberg, 2005:11). The Saving Mothers (Pattinson, 2002: 37-135) and Saving Babies (Pattinson, 2004:4-35) reports describe the causes and avoidable factors of these deaths with recommendations on how to improve care. The quality of care during the antenatal period may impact on the health of the pregnant woman and the outcome of the pregnancy, in particular on the still birth rate. In primary health care services there are many factors which may impact on and influence the quality of antenatal care. For example with the implementation of the comprehensive primary health care services package (Department of Health, 2001a:21-35) changes at clinic level resulted in a large number of primary health care professional nurses having to provide antenatal care, who previously may only have worked with one aspect of the primary health care package such as minor ailments or childcare. Because skills of midwifery or antenatal care, had not been practiced by some of these professional nurses, perhaps since completion of basic training, their level of competence has declined, and they have not been exposed to new developments in the field of midwifery. The practice of primary health care nurses is also influenced by the impact of diseases not specifically related to pregnancy like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The principles of quality antenatal care are known (Chalmers et al. 2001:203) but despite the knowledge about these principles the maternal and perinatal mortality remains high. The Basic Antenatal Care quality improvement package is designed to assist clinical management and decision making in antenatal care. The implementation of the BANC package may influence the quality of antenatal care positively, which in turn may impact on the outcome of pregnancy for the mother and her baby. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Basic antenatal care (BANC) package to improve the quality of antenatal care at primary health care clinics.
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- Date Issued: 2007