RESUMO
Background: Antenatal patronage is very low in most sub-Saharan African countries, Nigeria inclusive. It has also been recognised that most women who registered for antenatal care in a particular health institution, do not go back to the same centre to deliver when in labour. Skilled attendant delivery is very low in Nigeria. While many reasons can be adduced for this health seeking behaviour, antenatal care satisfaction is one of them. We decided to study how satisfied are the antenatal subjects at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa.Objective: The objective of this study is to determine antenatal mothers' perception of prenatal services at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional observational study conducted at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Nigeria between 1st of June 2015 and 30th of September, 2015. A pretested questionnaire was administered to 198 consecutive antenatal attendees at the centre by two Interns serving in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.Results: The mean number of antenatal visits was 4.2 ± 2.52 and the median was 4.0. One hundred and eighty-seven (94.5%) said the antenatal health talks were very educative, 103(52%) think the antenatal care visits should be made more frequent, 43 (21.7%) think they should reduce the frequency of visits, 183(92.4%) rated services at the centre from being good to excellent. One hundred and twenty-five (56.6%) respondents were generally dissatisfied with long waiting time to see doctors.Conclusion: The majority of mothers were happy with services and interventions rendered at the institution, measures that have been known to improve women's health in pregnancy and also improve perinatal outcomes. However, a sizeable proportion of subjects were unhappy with long waiting time to see a doctor, an issue that had dogged obstetric practice in sub-Saharan Africa. This issue needs to be tackled by caregivers and stakeholders alike
Assuntos
Instalações de Saúde , Percepção , Gravidez , Cuidado Pré-NatalRESUMO
Background to Study: Maternal mortality and morbidity are very high in sub-Saharan Africa as in most developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. There have been concerted efforts by Governments of these countries, Non-Governmental Organisations, International and World bodies on how to solve this problem. One of the worth able strategies employed to solve the issue of maternal mortality is to prevent unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, space births, plan family sizes through the use of modern contraceptive methods for women in their reproductive age. However, maternal mortality remains high in Nigeria because of the low prevalence of contraceptive patronage. We, the authors of this study decided to test the prevalence of contraceptive patronage amongst our antenatal patients and compare our results nationally and globally. Objective: To determine the pattern of contraceptive choices among antenatal patients attending the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross sectional study conducted at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, Bayelsa state, South-South Nigeria, between October 2014 to January 2015. It consisted of a set of structured, pretested questionnaires that were administered to consecutive antenatal attendees. Results: Fifty-one (57.3%) of subjects in the study have used contraceptives in the past. The most commonly used modern contraceptive method among the study population was the male condom – 25 (28.1%). Injectables were used by 12 (13.5%) of those who have used contraceptives before the advent of present pregnancy. Information on contraception- Seventy three (82%) of respondents learnt of family planning services in the hospital through Doctors and Nurses. Conclusion: Previous contraceptive usage before the pregnancy by the study group was encouraging. However more advocacies by contraceptive providers are needed in the areas of emergency contraception and long term contraceptive methods for increase uptake.