Contribution to improving the quality of postnatal care: an intervention study at the Community and University health Center of Konobougou, Mali

Abstract

Introduction: The period of the first six weeks postnatal is a period of risk if no consultation for mothers and their newborns has been provided. The aim of this work was to improve the quality of post-natal consultation in the community and university health center of Konobougou. Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional interventional study repeated at the health center from July 1 to November 30, 2020. Results: We introduced into this study 244 women in postpartum, who’s half at the initial assessment and the other half at the final assessment plus seven health workers. Knowledge of danger signs for women themselves and for newborns increased respectively from 67.2% to 91.8% of cases and from 65.6% to 95.1% of cases. Only 14.3% of newborns were examined at the initial assessment against 100% at the final assessment using the action plan. The results of the physical examination were not announced to women in 71.4% of cases at the initial assessment compared against 0% at the secondary assessment. Conclusion: The action plan made it possible to correct the shortcomings observed during the initial assessment, improve the skills of health workers and the level of knowledge of women.

Keywords: Quality improvement, post-natal consultation, Konobougou, Mali