The effect of a two-day training and refresher program on the basic emergency obstetric and newborn care knowledge and skills of health workers in Legazpi City, Albay

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objectives:</strong> The availability of emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) services is one of the key strategies in improving maternal health and achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3. Health staff knowledge and competency on these interventions are crucial to ensure the effective handling and management of obstetric and newborn emergencies. Health workers, despite having undergone formal training, require regular refresher courses to keep up with new, evidence-based information on EmONC intervention; and to ensure compliance with national and local referral guidelines. A two-day workshop was implemented to assess the knowledge and skills of health workers in Legazpi, Albay, regarding obstetric emergency cases and referral guidelines.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods:</strong> A pretest was conducted on the first day to assess the knowledge of the participants. A series of lectures were given before administering a posttest at the end of these lectures. An Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was conducted on the second day, which aimed to assess the skills of the participants.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Results:</strong> The pretest findings indicated that the participants are generally knowledgeable about areas such as handwashing and prenatal care. Results of the posttest show that participants had difficulty with the category of referrals. Moreover, comparing the pretest and posttest scores, there is strong evidence that there is a difference in the median values of the pretest scores as compared to the posttest scores. The results of the OSCE also indicate the need for further training on partograph use and adherence to an EINC protocol. More than half of the participants passed all five parts of the OSCE.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The workshop contributed to an improvement in the knowledge of health care workers in obstetric emergency cases. Skills-wise, more frequent training may need to be conducted to improve other competencies such as partograph utilization and the practice of EINC interventions.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Key Words:</strong> emergency obstetric care, training, skilled birth attendants, knowledge, skills</p>

Barriers to an Effective Maternal Health Service Delivery Network: A Qualitative Study among Health Providers in Legazpi City, Albay

Objectives@#To A functioning referral system is critical to the maternal health program, especially in the management of obstetric emergencies. This study explored supply-side barriers affecting the effective implementation of the said service delivery network (SDN) in Legazpi, Albay in the Bicol Region of the Philippines. @*Methods@#Face-to-face in-depth interviews using semi-structured questionnaires were performed with health care providers involved in the SDN in Albay. Extensive note taking was done by the primary investigator while participants were observed during performance of duties from June - November 2018. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, translated into English, and analyzed thematically along with the observation notes using NVivo. A deductive-dominant approach was utilized for the data content analysis.@*Results@#Referral system barriers identified were cross-cutting across the different components of the health system such as governance, human health resource, service delivery and information systems. The barriers were further classified into individual, organizational and external-related factors in relation to the SDN. Examples of barriers included lack of knowledge of protocols and guidelines, lack of coordination between facilities, poor data management, inadequate capacity building opportunities, and constantly changing political landscape and policies.@*Conclusions@#The study is the first to explore barriers to effective service delivery network in maternal health in the country. Findings from the study provide significant insight to areas of improvement in the SDN that must be addressed to strengthen local health systems, especially with the country’s movement towards Universal Health Care where local health systems play a key role.

Analysis of trends in maternal mortalities in Bicol region using national health surveys and maternal death reviews / Philippine Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Background@#Since 1976, Bicol Region had higher maternal mortality ratio (MMR) than the Philippine average and became the fourth region with the highest MMR in 2012. Looking at trends of maternal health outcomes and determining risk factors among mothers who died may guide interventions to reduce MMR.@*Objectives@#To determine the changes in maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the Bicol region from 2004 to 2017 and determine the sociodemographic profile of pregnant women who died from 2015 to 2018. @*Materials and Methods@#A records review of Bicol?s Regional Field Health Services Information System from 2004 to 2017 and maternal death review reports from 2015 to 2018 was done. Changes in MMR was determined using Poisson regression. The sociodemographic characteristics and causes of maternal deaths were analyzed using frequencies and proportion. @*Results@#From 2004 to 2017, MMR of 100.9 remained higher than the regional target of 31.6. Significant reductions in MMR were achieved in 2007 to 2008 and in 2011 to 2012 wherein MMR ranged between 75.3 to 89.3. However, by the end of 2012, maternal deaths again increased which reached 122.5 in 2017. From the maternal death reviews, it was observed that 29.5% of maternal deaths were aged 35 years and above and 7.5% were less than 20 years old. Mothers who had more than five pregnancies were 30.1% of total deaths. In terms of place of death, 15.7% died at home or in-transit to referral facilities. Hemorrhage or hypertension-related causes were the leading reasons for maternal deaths. @*Conclusion@#Significant reduction in MMR was not sustained after 2012 and higher deaths were reported in the succeeding years. Maternal deaths can be further reduced by using a systems approach, by promoting family planning, and by strengthening service delivery networks to effectively manage hemorrhage and hypertension-related emergencies.

Impact of revised management policies on the efficiency of gynecologic operating room processes in a tertiary training hospital / Philippine Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

BACKGROUND: A retrospective observational time motion study of elective gynecologic surgeries performed from January 2015 to December 2016 was conducted at the Operating Room Complex of a tertiary training hospital. There was a change from three operating suites with standard last stitch time in 2015 to only two with no cutoff times in 2016. This was due to the renovation of the Operating Room Complex.OBJECTIVE: To determine the factors and problems affecting operating room processesMATERIALS AND METHODS: Different time motion parameters such as induction time, length of induction, cutting time, last stitch time, total operation time, turnover time, and number of cases performed were collected from the nurses' documentation records. Average values from two different time periods were compared and analyzed.RESULTS: Results showed no improvement with the revised policies implemented in 2016. With only two rooms, surgeons were able to cope with the number of patients by extending operating hours later through the day. Recurring problems on manpower and lack of resources were noted.CONCLUSION: There is a need to identify hindrance to efficient operating room utilization with the goal to decrease patient queue, improve patient as well as staff satisfaction, and increase hospital revenue. Multi-disciplinary changes in practices, processes, and attitudes are timely for improvements in operating room utilization and consequently better patient centric outcomes.