Effectiveness of a computerized monitoring tool for the baby friendly hospital initiative in Egyptian settings

ABSTRACT

This study is an intervention study aimed at promoting the quality of Services delivered to mothers and babies in birthing facilities, by monitoring the Global Criteria set for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative [BFHI]. This study was carried out in Damanhour Teaching Hospital. The obstetric and neonatal intensive care [NICU] practices were periodically assessed by sampling twenty mother-infant pairs at three weeks intervals over 6 monitoring Sessions with a total of 120 mother-infant Pairs over the entire period of study from August to November 2008. Two weeks after the last monitoring session, we sampled a total of 80 mother- infant pairs from maternity services of four neighboring hospitals as a Comparison group with the intervention hospital. The results showed that there was a significant improvement in the practice of the Ten Steps using the monitoring technique. We recommend that future BFHI implementation in Egypt should adopt monitoring as a tool to reinforce training and ensure sustainability