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

ABSTRACT

@#<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>