Facility-based maternal death reviews: effects on maternal mortality in a district hospital in Senegal

Place of death and associated factors among reviewed maternal deaths in Ethiopia: a generalised structural equation modelling

OBJECTIVE

The study aims to determine the magnitude and factors that affect maternal death in different settings.

DESIGN, SETTING AND ANALYSIS

A review of national maternal death surveillance data was conducted. The data were obtained through medical record review and verbal autopsies of each death. Generalised structural equation modelling was employed to simultaneously examine the relationships among exogenous, mediating (urban/rural residence) and endogenous variables.

OUTCOME

Magnitude and factors related to the location of maternal death.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 4316 maternal deaths were reviewed from 2013 to 2020.

RESULTS

Facility death constitutes 69.0% of maternal deaths in the reporting period followed by home death and death while in transit, each contributing to 17.0% and 13.6% of maternal deaths, respectively. Educational status has a positive direct effect on death occurring at home (β=0.42, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.66), obstetric haemorrhage has a direct positive effect on deaths occurring at home (β=0.41, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.80) and death in transit (β=0.68, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.87), while it has a direct negative effect on death occurring at a health facility (β=-0.60, 95% CI -0.77 to -0.44). Moreover, unanticipated management of complication has a positive direct (β=0.99, 95% CI 0.34 to 1.63), indirect (β=0.05, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.07) and total (β=1.04, 95% CI 0.38 to 1.70) effect on facility death. Residence is a mediator variable and is associated with all places of death. It has a connection with facility death (β=-0.70, 95% CI -0.95 to -0.46), death during transit (β=0.51, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.83) and death at home (β=0.85, 95% CI 0.54 to 1.17).

CONCLUSION

Almost 7 in 10 maternal deaths occurred at the health facility. Sociodemographic factors, medical causes of death and non-medical causes of death mediated by residence were factors associated with the place of death. Thus, factors related to the place of death should be considered as an area of intervention to mitigate preventable maternal death that occurred in different settings.

A systematic review of individual and ecological determinants of maternal mortality in the world based on the income level of countries

BACKGROUND

This systematic review was conducted to map the literature on all the existing evidence regarding individual and ecological determinants of maternal mortality in the world and to classify them based on the income level of countries. Such a systematic review had not been conducted before.

METHODS

We conducted an electronic search for primary and review articles using "Maternal Mortality" and "Determinant" as keywords or MeSH terms in their Title or Abstract, indexed in Scopus, PubMed, and Google with no time or geographical limitation and also hand searching was performed for most relevant journals. STROBE and Glasgow university critical appraisal checklists were used for quality assessment of the included studies. Data of the determinants were extracted and classified into individual or ecological categories based on income level of the countries according to World Bank classification.

RESULTS

In this review, 109 original studies and 12 review articles from 33 countries or at global level met the inclusion criteria. Most studies were published after 2013. Most literature studied determinants of low and lower-middle-income countries. The most important individual determinants in low and lower-middle-income countries were location of birth, maternal education, any delays in health services seeking, prenatal care and skilled birth attendance. Household-related determinants in low-income countries included improved water source and sanitation system, region of residence, house condition, wealth of household, and husband education. Additionally, ecological determinants including human resources, access to medical equipment and facilities, total fertility rate, health financing system, country income, poverty rate, governance, education, employment, social protection, gender inequality, and human development index were found to be important contributors in maternal mortality. A few factors were more important in higher-income countries than lower-income countries including parity, IVF births, older mothers, and type of delivery.

CONCLUSION

A comprehensive list of factors associated with maternal death was gathered through this systematic review, most of which were related to lower-income countries. It seems that the income level of the countries makes a significant difference in determinants of maternal mortality in the world.

Audit identified modifiable factors in Hospital Care of Newborns in low-middle income countries: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Audit of facility-based care provided to small and sick newborns is a quality improvement initiative that helps to identify the modifiable gaps in newborn care (BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 14: 280, 2014). The aim of this work was to identify literature on modifiable factors in the care of newborns in the newborn units in health facilities in low-middle-income countries (LMICs). We also set out to design a measure of the quality of the perinatal and newborn audit process.

METHODS

The scoping review was conducted using the methodology outlined by Arksey and O'Malley and refined by Levac et al, (Implement Sci 5:1-9, 2010). We reported our results using the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. We identified seven factors to ensure a successful audit process based on World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations which we subsequently used to develop a quality of audit process score.

DATA SOURCES

We conducted a structured search using PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, LILACS, POPLINE and African Index Medicus.

STUDY SELECTION

Studies published in English between 1965 and December 2019 focusing on the identification of modifiable factors through clinical or mortality audits in newborn care in health facilities from LMICs.

DATA EXTRACTION

We extracted data on the study characteristics, modifiable factors and quality of audit process indicators.

RESULTS

A total of six articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, four were mortality audit studies and two were clinical audit studies that we used to assess the quality of the audit process. None of the studies were well conducted, two were moderately well conducted, and four were poorly conducted. The modifiable factors were divided into three time periods along the continuum of newborn care. The period of newborn unit care had the highest number of modifiable factors, and in each period, the health worker related modifiable factors were the most dominant.

CONCLUSION

Based on the significant number of modifiable factors in the newborn unit, a neonatal audit tool is essential to act as a structured guide for auditing newborn unit care in LMICs. The quality of audit process guide is a useful method of ensuring high quality audits in health facilities.

The development of a new accountability measurement framework and tool for global health initiatives

The Global Strategy for Women’s Children’s and Adolescents’ Health emphasizes accountability as essential to ensure that decision-makers have the information required to meet the health needs of their populations and stresses the importance of tracking resources, results, and rights to see ‘what works, what needs improvement and what requires increased attention’. However, results from accountability initiatives are mixed and there is a lack of broadly applicable, validated tools for planning, monitoring and evaluating accountability interventions. This article documents an effort to transform accountability markers—including political will, leadership and the monitor–review–act cycle—into a measurement tool that can be used prospectively or retrospectively to plan, monitor and evaluate accountability initiatives. It describes the development process behind the tool including the literature review, framework development and subsequent building of the measurement tool itself. It also examines feedback on the tool from a panel of global experts and the results of a pilot test conducted in Bauchi and Gombe states in Nigeria. The results demonstrate that the tool is an effective aid for accountability initiatives to reflect on their own progress and provides a useful structure for future planning, monitoring and evaluation. The tool can be applied and adapted to other accountability mechanisms working in global health.

Impact of maternal death reviews at a rural hospital in Zambia: a mixed methods study

Background

Maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa remains high despite programmatic efforts to improve maternal health. In 2007, the Zambian Ministry of Health mandated facility-based maternal death review (MDR) programs in line with World Health Organization recommendations. We assessed the impact of an [MDR program] at a district-level hospital in rural Zambia.

Methods

We conducted a mixed methods convergent study using hospital data on maternal mortality and audit reports of 106 maternal deaths from 2007 to 2011. To evaluate the overall impact of MDR on maternal mortality, we compared baseline (2007) to late (2010–11) post-intervention inpatient maternal mortality indicators. MDR committee reports were coded and dominant themes were extracted in a qualitative analysis. We assessed potential risk factors for maternal mortality in a before-and-after design comparing the periods 2008–09 and 2010–11.

Results

In-hospital maternal mortality declined from 23 per thousand live births in 2007 to 8 per thousand in 2010–11 (P < 0.01). Maternal case fatality for puerperal sepsis and uterine rupture decreased significantly from 63 and 32% in 2007 to 10 and 9% in 2010–11 (P < 0.01). No significant reduction was seen in case fatality due to postpartum hemorrhage. Qualitative analysis of risk factors for maternal mortality revealed four core themes: standards of practice, health systems, accessibility, and patient factors. Specific risk factors included delayed referral, missed diagnoses, intra-hospital delays in care, low medication inventory, and medical error. We found no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of risk factors between the before-and-after periods.

Conclusions

Implementation of MDR was accompanied by a significant decrease in maternal mortality with reductions in maternal death from puerperal sepsis and uterine rupture, but not postpartum hemorrhage. Qualitative analysis of audit reports identified several modifiable risk factors within four core areas. Comparisons of potential explanatory factors did not show any differences over time. These results imply that MDR offers a means for hospitals to curtail maternal deaths, except deaths due to postpartum hemorrhage, suggesting additional interventions are needed. Documentation of MDR meetings provides an instrument to guide further quality improvements.

Death audits and reviews for reducing maternal, perinatal and child mortality

BACKGROUND

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include reducing the global maternal mortality rate to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age, in every country, by 2030. Maternal and perinatal death audit and review is widely recommended as an intervention to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality, and to improve quality of care, and could be key to attaining the SDGs. However, there is uncertainty over the most cost-effective way of auditing and reviewing deaths: community-based audit (verbal and social autopsy), facility-based audits (significant event analysis (SEA)) or a combination of both (confidential enquiry).

OBJECTIVES

To assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of different types of death audits and reviews in reducing maternal, perinatal and child mortality.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched the following from inception to 16 January 2019: CENTRAL, Ovid MEDLINE, Embase OvidSP, and five other databases. We identified ongoing studies using ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and searched reference lists of included articles.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Cluster-randomised trials, cluster non-randomised trials, controlled before-and-after studies and interrupted time series studies of any form of death audit or review that involved reviewing individual cases of maternal, perinatal or child deaths, identifying avoidable factors, and making recommendations. To be included in the review, a study needed to report at least one of the following outcomes: perinatal mortality rate; stillbirth rate; neonatal mortality rate; mortality rate in children under five years of age or maternal mortality rate.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We used standard Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) group methodological procedures. Two review authors independently extracted data, assessed risk of bias and assessed the certainty of the evidence using GRADE. We planned to perform a meta-analysis using a random-effects model but included studies were not homogeneous enough to make pooling their results meaningful.

MAIN RESULTS

We included two cluster-randomised trials. Both introduced death review and audit as part of a multicomponent intervention, and compared this to current care. The QUARITE study (QUAlity of care, RIsk management, and TEchnology) concerned maternal death reviews in hospitals in West Africa, which had very high maternal and perinatal mortality rates. In contrast, the OPERA trial studied perinatal morbidity/mortality conferences (MMCs) in maternity units in France, which already had very low perinatal mortality rates at baseline. The OPERA intervention in France started with an outreach visit to brief obstetricians, midwives and anaesthetists on the national guidelines on morbidity/mortality case management, and was followed by a series of perinatal MMCs. Half of the intervention units were randomised to receive additional support from a clinical psychologist during these meetings. The OPERA intervention may make little or no difference to overall perinatal mortality (low certainty evidence), however we are uncertain about the effect of the intervention on perinatal mortality related to suboptimal care (very low certainty evidence).The intervention probably reduces perinatal morbidity related to suboptimal care (unadjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.40 to 0.95; 165,353 births; moderate-certainty evidence). The effect of the intervention on stillbirth rate, neonatal mortality, mortality rate in children under five years of age, maternal mortality or adverse effects was not reported. The QUARITE intervention in West Africa focused on training leaders of hospital obstetric teams using the ALARM (Advances in Labour And Risk Management) course, which included one day of training about conducting maternal death reviews. The leaders returned to their hospitals, established a multidisciplinary committee and started auditing maternal deaths, with the support of external facilitators. The intervention probably reduces inpatient maternal deaths (adjusted OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.98; 191,167 deliveries; moderate certainty evidence) and probably also reduces inpatient neonatal mortality within 24 hours following birth (adjusted OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.90; moderate certainty evidence). However, QUARITE probably makes little or no difference to the inpatient stillbirth rate (moderate certainty evidence) and may make little or no difference to the inpatient neonatal mortality rate after 24 hours, although the 95% confidence interval includes both benefit and harm (low certainty evidence). The QUARITE intervention probably increases the percent of women receiving high quality of care (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.35 - 2.57, moderate-certainty evidence). The effect of the intervention on perinatal mortality, mortality rate in children under five years of age, or adverse effects was not reported. We did not find any studies that evaluated child death audit and review or community-based death reviews or costs.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

A complex intervention including maternal death audit and review, as well as development of local leadership and training, probably reduces inpatient maternal mortality in low-income country district hospitals, and probably slightly improves quality of care. Perinatal death audit and review, as part of a complex intervention with training, probably improves quality of care, as measured by perinatal morbidity related to suboptimal care, in a high-income setting where mortality was already very low. The WHO recommends that maternal and perinatal death reviews should be conducted in all hospitals globally. However, conducting death reviews in isolation may not be sufficient to achieve the reductions in mortality observed in the QUARITE trial. This review suggests that maternal death audit and review may need to be implemented as part of an intervention package which also includes elements such as training of a leading doctor and midwife in each hospital, annual recertification, and quarterly outreach visits by external facilitators to provide supervision and mentorship. The same may also apply to perinatal and child death reviews. More operational research is needed on the most cost-effective ways of implementing maternal, perinatal and paediatric death reviews in low- and middle-income countries.

Maternal death review and surveillance: The case of Central Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria

Background

Despite the adoption of Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) by Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health to track and rectify the causes of maternal mortality, very limited documentation exists on experiences with the method and its outcomes at institutional and policy levels.

Objective

The objective of this study was to identify through the MPDSR process, the medical causes and contributory factors of maternal mortality, and to elucidate the policy response that took place after the dissemination of the results.

Methods

The study was conducted at the Central Hospital, Benin between October 1, 2017, and May 31, 2019. We first developed a strategic plan with the objective to reduce maternal mortality by 50% in the hospital in two years. An MPDSR committee was established and the members and all staff of the Maternity Department of the hospital were trained to use the nationally approved protocol. All consecutive cases of maternal deaths in the hospital were then reviewed using the MPDSR protocol. The results were submitted to the hospital Management and its supporting agencies for administrative action to correct the identified deficiencies.

Results

There were 18 maternal deaths in the hospital during the period, and 4,557 deliveries giving a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 395/100,000 deliveries. This amounted to a seven-fold reduction in MMR in the hospital at the onset of the project. The main medical causes identified were obstetric hemorrhage (n = 10), pulmonary embolism (n = 2), ruptured uterus (n = 2), eclampsia (n = 1), anemic heart failure (n = 1) and post-partum sepsis (n = 2). Several facility-based and patient contributory factors were identified such as lack of blood in the hospital and late reporting with severe obstetric complication among others. Response to the recommendations from the committee include increased commitment of hospital managers to immediately rectify the attributable causes of deaths, the establishment of a couples health education program, mobilization and sensitization of staff to handle pregnant women with great sensitivity, promptness and care, the refurbishing of an intensive care unit, and the increased availability of blood for transfusion through the intensification of blood donation drive in the hospital.

Conclusion

We conclude that the results of MPDSR, when acted upon by hospital managers and policymakers can lead to an improvement in quality of care and a consequent decline in maternal mortality ratio in referral hospitals.

Barriers to Implementation of Perinatal Death Audit in Maternity and Pediatric Hospitals in Jordan: Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Perinatal death audit is a feasible and cost-effective quality improvement tool that helps to improve the quality of health care and reduce perinatal deaths. Perinatal death audit is not implemented in almost all hospitals in Jordan.

Objective

This study aimed to assess health professionals’ attitude toward perinatal death auditing and determine the main barriers for effective implementation of perinatal death auditing as perceived by health professionals in Jordanian hospitals.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among health professionals in 4 hospitals in Jordan. All physicians (pediatricians and obstetricians) and nurses working in these hospitals were invited to participate in the study. The study questionnaire assessed the attitude of health professionals toward perinatal death audit and assessed barriers for implementation of perinatal death audit in their hospitals.

Results

This study included a total of 84 physicians and 218 nurses working in the 4 selected maternity hospitals. Only 35% (29/84) of physicians and 36.2% (79/218) of nurses reported that perinatal death audit would help to improve the quality of prenatal health care services to a great or very great extent. Lack of time was the first-mentioned barrier for implementing perinatal death audit by both physicians (35/84, 42%) and nurses (80/218, 36.7%). Almost the same proportions of health professionals reported inadequate patient information being documented in hospital records as a barrier. Lack of a health information system was the third-mentioned barrier by health professionals. Fear of having conflicts with the family of the dead baby was reported by almost one-third of physicians and nurses. Only 28% (23/83) of physicians and 16.9% (36/213) of nurses reported that they would like to be involved in perinatal death audit in their health facilities.

Conclusions

Health professionals in Jordan had poor attitude toward perinatal death audit. The main barriers for implementing perinatal death audit in Jordanian hospitals were lack of time, inadequate patient information being documented in hospital records, and lack of health information systems.

Shifting paradigm of maternal and perinatal death review system in Bangladesh: A real time approach to address sustainable developmental goal 3 by 2030

Recently, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in reducing maternal and neonatal morality, even though the millennium developmental goal to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality was not achieved. Sustainable Developmental Goal (SDG) 3 has already been set for a new target to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths by 2030. The country takes this timely initiative to introduce a maternal and perinatal death review system. This review will discuss the shifting paradigm of the maternal and perinatal death review system in Bangladesh and its challenges in reaching the SDG on time. This review uses existing literature on the maternal and perinatal death review system in Bangladesh, and other systems in similar settings, as well as reports, case studies, news, government letters and meeting minutes.

Bangladesh introduced the maternal and perinatal death review system in 2010. Prior to this there was no such comprehensive death review system practiced in Bangladesh. The system was established within the government health system and has brought about positive effects and outcomes. Therefore, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh gradually scaled up the maternal and perinatal death review system nationwide in 2016 within the government health system. The present death review system highlighted real-time data use, using the district health information software(DHIS-2). Health mangers are able to take remedial action plans and implement strategies based on findings in DHIS-2. Therefore, effective utilization of data can play a pivotal role in the reduction of maternal and perinatal deaths in Bangladesh.

Overall, the maternal and perinatal death review system provides a great opportunity to achieve the SDG 3 on time. However, the system needs continuous monitoring at different levels to ensure its quality and validity of information, as well as effective utilization of findings for planning and implementation under a measureable accountability framework.

Strengthening accountability for improved maternal and newborn health: A mapping of studies in Sub-Saharan Africa

OBJECTIVE

To describe the types of maternal and newborn health program accountability mechanisms implemented and evaluated in recent years in Sub-Saharan Africa, how these have been implemented, their effectiveness, and future prospects to improve governance and MNH outcomes.

METHOD

A structured review selected 38 peer-reviewed papers between 2006 and 2016 in Sub-Saharan Africa to include in the analysis.

RESULTS

Performance accountability in MNH through maternal and perinatal death surveillance was the most common accountability mechanism used. Political and democratic accountability through advocacy, human rights, and global tracking of progress on indicators achieved greatest results when multiple stakeholders were involved. Financial accountability can be effective but depend on external support. Overall, this review shows that accountability is more effective when clear expectations are backed by social and political advocacy and multistakeholder engagement, and supported by incentives for positive action.

CONCLUSION

There are few accountability mechanisms in MNH in Sub-Saharan Africa between decision-makers and those affected by those decisions with both the power and the will to enforce answerability. Increasing accountability depends not only on how mechanisms are enforced but also, on how providers and managers understand accountability.

Effective non-drug interventions for improving outcomes and quality of maternal health care in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Many interventions have been implemented to improve maternal health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Currently, however, systematic information on the effectiveness of these interventions remains scarce. We conducted a systematic review of published evidence on non-drug interventions that reported effectiveness in improving outcomes and quality of care in maternal health in SSA.

METHODS

African Journals Online, Bioline, MEDLINE, Ovid, Science Direct, and Scopus databases were searched for studies published in English between 2000 and 2015 and reporting on the effectiveness of interventions to improve quality and outcomes of maternal health care in SSA. Articles focusing on interventions that involved drug treatments, medications, or therapies were excluded. We present a narrative synthesis of the reported impact of these interventions on maternal morbidity and mortality outcomes as well as on other dimensions of the quality of maternal health care (as defined by the Institute of Medicine 2001 to comprise safety, effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, patient centeredness, and equitability).

RESULTS

Seventy-three studies were included in this review. Non-drug interventions that directly or indirectly improved quality of maternal health and morbidity and mortality outcomes in SSA assumed a variety of forms including mobile and electronic health, financial incentives on the demand and supply side, facility-based clinical audits and maternal death reviews, health systems strengthening interventions, community mobilization and/or peer-based programs, home-based visits, counseling and health educational and promotional programs conducted by health care providers, transportation and/or communication and referrals for emergency obstetric care, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and task shifting interventions. There was a preponderance of single facility and community-based studies whose effectiveness was difficult to assess.

CONCLUSIONS

Many non-drug interventions have been implemented to improve maternal health care in SSA. These interventions have largely been health facility and/or community based. While the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to improve maternal health is varied, study findings underscore the importance of implementing comprehensive interventions that strengthen different components of the health care systems, both in the community and at the health facilities, coupled with a supportive policy environment.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION

PROSPERO CRD42015023750.

Maternal death audit in Rwanda 2009-2013: a nationwide facility-based retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE

Presenting the results of 5 years of implementing health facility-based maternal death audits in Rwanda, showing maternal death classification, identification of substandard (care) factors that have contributed to death, and conclusive recommendations for quality improvements in maternal and obstetric care.

DESIGN

Nationwide facility-based retrospective cohort study.

SETTINGS

All cases of maternal death audited by district hospital-based audit teams between January 2009 and December 2013 were reviewed. Maternal deaths that were not subjected to a local audit are not part of the cohort.

POPULATION

987 audited cases of maternal death.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Characteristics of deceased women, timing of onset of complications, place of death, parity, gravida, antenatal clinic attendance, reported cause of death, service factors and individual factors identified by committees as having contributed to death, and recommendations made by audit teams.

RESULTS

987 cases were audited, representing 93.1% of all maternal deaths reported through the national health management information system over the 5-year period. Almost 3 quarters of the deaths (71.6%) occurred at district hospitals. In 44.9% of these cases, death occurred in the post-partum period. Seventy per cent were due to direct causes, with post-partum haemorrhage as the leading cause (22.7%), followed by obstructed labour (12.3%). Indirect causes accounted for 25.7% of maternal deaths, with malaria as the leading cause (7.5%). Health system failures were identified as the main responsible factor for the majority of cases (61.0%); in 30.3% of the cases, the main factor was patient or community related.

CONCLUSIONS

The facility-based maternal death audit approach has helped hospital teams to identify direct and indirect causes of death, and their contributing factors, and to make recommendations for actions that would reduce the risk of reoccurrence. Rwanda can complement maternal death audits with other strategies, in particular confidential enquiries and near-miss audits, so as to inform corrective measures.

Facility Death Review of Maternal and Neonatal Deaths in Bangladesh

Objectives

To explore the experiences, acceptance, and effects of conducting facility death review (FDR) of maternal and neonatal deaths and stillbirths at or below the district level in Bangladesh.

Methods

This was a qualitative study with healthcare providers involved in FDRs. Two districts were studied: Thakurgaon district (a pilot district) and Jamalpur district (randomly selected from three follow-on study districts). Data were collected between January and November 2011. Data were collected from focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and document review. Hospital administrators, obstetrics and gynecology consultants, and pediatric consultants and nurses employed in the same departments of the respective facilities participated in the study. Content and thematic analyses were performed.

Results

FDR for maternal and neonatal deaths and stillbirths can be performed in upazila health complexes at sub-district and district hospital levels. Senior staff nurses took responsibility for notifying each death and conducting death reviews with the support of doctors. Doctors reviewed the FDRs to assign causes of death. Review meetings with doctors, nurses, and health managers at the upazila and district levels supported the preparation of remedial action plans based on FDR findings, and interventions were planned accordingly. There were excellent examples of improved quality of care at facilities as a result of FDR. FDR also identified gaps and challenges to overcome in the near future to improve maternal and newborn health.

Discussion

FDR of maternal and neonatal deaths is feasible in district and upazila health facilities. FDR not only identifies the medical causes of a maternal or neonatal death but also explores remediable gaps and challenges in the facility. FDR creates an enabled environment in the facility to explore medical causes of deaths, including the gaps and challenges that influence mortality. FDRs mobilize health managers at upazila and district levels to forward plan and improve healthcare delivery.

Establishing cause of maternal death in Malawi via facility-based review and application of the ICD-MM classification

Maternal death review (MDR) is an accepted process that is implemented across Malawi and 'underlying cause of death' is assigned by healthcare providers using a standard MDR form. Mixed-methods approach. Key informant interviews with eight stakeholders involved in MDR. Secondary analysis of MDR forms for 54 maternal deaths. Comparison of assigned cause of death by healthcare providers conducting MDR at health facility level with cause assigned by researchers using the International Classification of Diseases Maternal Mortality (ICD-MM) classification. MDR teams, analysts and policymakers reported facing challenges in completing the forms, analysing and using information. The concepts of underlying (primary) and contributing (secondary) causes of death are often misunderstood. Healthcare providers using only MDR forms reported cause of death as non-obstetric complications in 39.6% and pregnancy-related infection in 11.3% of cases. For 30.2% of cases, no clear clinical cause of death was recorded. The most commonly assigned underlying cause of death using ICD-MM was obstetric haemorrhage (32.1%), non-obstetric complications (24.5%) and pregnancy-related infection (22.6%). There was poor agreement between cause(s) of maternal death assigned by healthcare providers in the field and trained researchers using the new ICD-MM classification (κ statistic; 0.219). The majority of cases could be reclassified using the ICD-MM and this provided a more specific cause of death. A more structured and user-friendly MDR form is required. Accurate classification of cause of death is important. Dissemination of, and training in the use of the new ICD-MM classification system will be helpful to healthcare providers conducting MDR in Malawi.

Rewriting abortion: deploying medical records in jurisdictional negotiation over a forbidden practice in Senegal

Boundary work refers to the strategies deployed by professionals in the arenas of the public, the law and the workplace to define and defend jurisdictional authority. Little attention has been directed to the role of documents in negotiating professional claims. While boundary work over induced abortion has been extensively documented, few studies have examined jurisdictional disputes over the treatment of abortion complications, or post-abortion care (PAC). This study explores how medical providers deploy medical records in boundary work over the treatment of complications of spontaneous and induced abortion in Senegal, where induced abortion is prohibited under any circumstance. Findings are based on an institutional ethnography of Senegal's national PAC program over a period of 13 months between 2010 and 2011. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews with 36 health care professionals, observation of PAC services at three hospitals, a review of abortion records at each hospital, and a case review of illegal abortions prosecuted by the state. Findings show that health providers produce a particular account of the type of abortion treated through a series of practices such as the patient interview and the clinical exam. Providers obscure induced abortion in medical documents in three ways: the use of terminology that does not differentiate between induced and spontaneous abortion in PAC registers, the omission of data on the type of abortion altogether in PAC registers, and reporting the total number but not the type of abortions treated in hospital data transmitted to state health authorities. The obscuration of suspected induced abortion in the record permits providers to circumvent police inquiry at the hospital. PAC has been implemented in approximately 50 countries worldwide. This study demonstrates the need for additional research on how medical professionals negotiate conflicting medical and legal obligations in the daily practice of treating abortion complications.

Easier said than done!: methodological challenges with conducting maternal death review research in Malawi

Background

Maternal death auditing is widely used to ascertain in-depth information on the clinical, social, cultural, and other contributing factors that result in a maternal death. As the 2015 deadline for Millennium Development Goal 5 of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters between 1990 and 2015 draws near, this information becomes even more critical for informing intensified maternal mortality reduction strategies. Studies using maternal death audit methodologies are widely available, but few discuss the challenges in their implementation. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodological issues that arose while conducting maternal death review research in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Methods

Critical reflections were based on a recently conducted maternal mortality study in Lilongwe, Malawi in which a facility-based maternal death review approach was used. The five-step maternal mortality surveillance cycle provided the framework for discussion. The steps included: 1) identification of cases, 2) data collection, 3) data analysis, 4) recommendations, and 5) evaluation.

Results

Challenges experienced were related to the first three steps of the surveillance cycle. They included: 1) identification of cases: conflicting maternal death numbers, and missing medical charts, 2) data collection: poor record keeping, poor quality of documentation, difficulties in identifying and locating appropriate healthcare workers for interviews, the potential introduction of bias through the use of an interpreter, and difficulties with locating family and community members and recall bias; and 3) data analysis: determining the causes of death and clinical diagnoses.

Conclusion

Conducting facility-based maternal death reviews for the purpose of research has several challenges. This paper illustrated that performing such an activity, particularly the data collection phase, was not as easy as conveyed in international guidelines and in published studies. However, these challenges are not insurmountable. If they are anticipated and proper steps are taken in advance, they can be avoided or their effects minimized.

A combined community- and facility-based approach to improve pregnancy outcomes in low-resource settings: a Global Network cluster randomized trial

BACKGROUND

Fetal and neonatal mortality rates in low-income countries are at least 10-fold greater than in high-income countries. These differences have been related to poor access to and poor quality of obstetric and neonatal care.

METHODS

This trial tested the hypothesis that teams of health care providers, administrators and local residents can address the problem of limited access to quality obstetric and neonatal care and lead to a reduction in perinatal mortality in intervention compared to control locations. In seven geographic areas in five low-income and one middle-income country, most with high perinatal mortality rates and substantial numbers of home deliveries, we performed a cluster randomized non-masked trial of a package of interventions that included community mobilization focusing on birth planning and hospital transport, community birth attendant training in problem recognition, and facility staff training in the management of obstetric and neonatal emergencies. The primary outcome was perinatal mortality at ≥28 weeks gestation or birth weight ≥1000 g.

RESULTS

Despite extensive effort in all sites in each of the three intervention areas, no differences emerged in the primary or any secondary outcome between the intervention and control clusters. In both groups, the mean perinatal mortality was 40.1/1,000 births (P = 0.9996). Neither were there differences between the two groups in outcomes in the last six months of the project, in the year following intervention cessation, nor in the clusters that best implemented the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

This cluster randomized comprehensive, large-scale, multi-sector intervention did not result in detectable impact on the proposed outcomes. While this does not negate the importance of these interventions, we expect that achieving improvement in pregnancy outcomes in these settings will require substantially more obstetric and neonatal care infrastructure than was available at the sites during this trial, and without them provider training and community mobilization will not be sufficient. Our results highlight the critical importance of evaluating outcomes in randomized trials, as interventions that should be effective may not be.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01073488.

Hospital-based trauma quality improvement initiatives: first step toward improving trauma outcomes in the developing world

BACKGROUND

Injuries remain a leading cause of death in the developing world. Whereas new investments are welcome, quality improvement (QI) at the currently available trauma care facilities is essential. The objective of this study was to determine the effect and long-term sustainability of trauma QI initiatives on in-hospital mortality and complications at a large tertiary hospital in a developing country.

METHODS

In 2002, a specialized trauma team was formed (members trained using advanced trauma life support), and a western style trauma program established including a registry and quality assurance program. Patients from 1998 onward were entered in to this registry, enabling a preimplementation and postimplementation study. Adults (>15 years) with blunt or penetrating trauma were analyzed. The main outcomes of interest were (1) in-hospital mortality and (2) occurrence of any complication. Multiple logistic regression was performed to assess the impact of formalized trauma care on outcomes, controlling for covariates reaching significance in the bivariate analyses.

RESULTS

A total of 1,227 patient records were analyzed. Patient demographics and injury characteristics are described in Table 1. Overall in-hospital mortality rate was 6.4%, and the complication rate was 11.1%. On multivariate analysis, patients admitted during the trauma service years were 4.9 times less likely to die (95% confidence interval, 1.77-13.57) and 2.60 times (odds ratio; 95% confidence interval, 1.29-5.21) less likely to have a complication compared with those treated in the pretrauma service years.

CONCLUSION

Despite significant delays in hospital transit and lack of prehospital trauma care, hospital level implementation of trauma QI program greatly decreases mortality and complication rates in the developing world.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Care management study, level IV.

Quality of care, risk management, and technology in obstetrics to reduce hospital-based maternal mortality in Senegal and Mali (QUARITE): a cluster-randomised trial

BACKGROUND

Maternal mortality is higher in west Africa than in most industrialised countries, so the development and validation of effective interventions is essential. We did a trial to assess the effect of a multifaceted intervention to promote maternity death reviews and onsite training in emergency obstetric care in referral hospitals with high maternal mortality rates in Senegal and Mali.

METHODS

We did a pragmatic cluster-randomised controlled trial, with hospitals as the units of randomisation and patients as the unit of analysis. 46 public first-level and second-level referral hospitals with more than 800 deliveries a year were enrolled, stratified by country and hospital type, and randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n=23) or the control group with no external intervention (n=23). All women who delivered in each of the participating facilities during the baseline and post-intervention periods were included. The intervention, implemented over a period of 2 years at the hospital level, consisted of an initial interactive workshop and quarterly educational clinically-oriented and evidence-based outreach visits focused on maternal death reviews and best practices implementation. The primary outcome was reduction of risk of hospital-based mortality. Analysis was by intention-to-treat and relied on the generalised estimating equations extension of the logistic regression model to account for clustering of women within hospitals. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number ISRCTN46950658.

FINDINGS

191,167 patients who delivered in the participating hospitals were analysed (95,931 in the intervention groups and 95,236 in the control groups). Overall, mortality reduction in intervention hospitals was significantly higher than in control hospitals (odds ratio [OR] 0·85, 95% CI 0·73-0·98, p=0·0299), but this effect was limited to capital and district hospitals, which mainly acted as first-level referral hospitals in this trial. There was no effect in second-level referral (regional) hospitals outside the capitals (OR 1·02, 95% CI 0·79-1·31, p=0·89). No hospitals were lost to follow-up. Concrete actions were implemented comprehensively to improve quality of care in intervention hospitals.

INTERPRETATION

Regular visits by a trained external facilitator and onsite training can provide health-care professionals with the knowledge and confidence to make quality improvement suggestions during audit sessions. Maternal death reviews, combined with best practices implementation, are effective in reducing hospital-based mortality in first-level referral hospitals. Further studies are needed to determine whether the benefits of the intervention are generalisable to second-level referral hospitals.

FUNDING

Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

A prediction score for maternal mortality in Senegal and Mali

OBJECTIVE

To develop and validate a maternal mortality score to identify patients at risk of in-hospital death in developing countries.

METHODS

We performed a prospective observational study in 46 referral hospitals in Senegal and Mali, starting October 1, 2007. Derivation of a maternal mortality score was performed, using generalized estimating equation, on patients included during the first 6 months of the study (301 deaths out of 43,624 deliveries) and validated on patients included during the next 6 months (345 deaths out of 46,328 deliveries).

RESULTS

Nine criteria were independently associated with maternal death: severe anemia in pregnancy, malaria diagnosed during pregnancy, parity greater than 4, fewer than three antenatal visits, referral from another health facility, antepartum or postpartum hemorrhage, preeclampsia or eclampsia, uterine rupture, and genital infection or sepsis. The maternal mortality score, ranging from 0 to 100, occupies an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.89 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.87-0.91). The low-risk group for maternal mortality, based on a score less than 10, has a negative predictive value of 99.9% (95% CI 99.8-99.9) and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.18, ruling out maternal mortality with a probability of 0.13% (95% CI 0.09-0.17). Sensitivity of the score to identify patients at risk of in-hospital death was 85.0% (95% CI 80.5-88.8). Validation of the score yielded a sensitivity of 87.8% (95% CI 83.9-91.1), a negative predictive value of 99.9% (95% CI 99.8-99.9), and a probability of maternal death of 0.12% (95% CI 0.08-0.17) in the low-risk group.

CONCLUSION

: The maternal mortality score could help health care professionals to identify patients at risk of maternal mortality who need careful management.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

III.

Effect of a facility-based multifaceted intervention on the quality of obstetrical care: a cluster randomized controlled trial in Mali and Senegal

Background

Maternal mortality in referral hospitals in Mali and Senegal surpasses 1% of obstetrical admissions. Poor quality obstetrical care contributes to high maternal mortality; however, poor care is often linked to insufficient hospital resources. One promising method to improve obstetrical care is maternal death review. With a cluster randomized trial, we assessed whether an intervention, based on maternal death review, could improve obstetrical quality of care.

Methods

The trial began with a pre-intervention year (2007), followed by two years of intervention activities and a post-intervention year. We measured obstetrical quality of care in the post-intervention year using a criterion-based clinical audit (CBCA). We collected data from 32 of the 46 trial hospitals (16 in each trial arm) and included 658 patients admitted to the maternity unit with a trial of labour. The CBCA questionnaire measured 5 dimensions of care- patient history, clinical examination, laboratory examination, delivery care and postpartum monitoring. We used adjusted mixed models to evaluate differences in CBCA scores by trial arms and examined how levels of hospital human and material resources affect quality of care differences associated with the intervention.

Results

For all women, the mean percentage of care criteria met was 66.3 (SD 13.5). There were significantly greater mean CBCA scores in women treated at intervention hospitals (68.2) compared to control hospitals (64.5). After adjustment, women treated at intervention sites had 5 points’ greater scores than those at control sites. This difference was mostly attributable to greater clinical examination and post-partum monitoring scores. The association between the intervention and quality of care was the same, irrespective of the level of resources available to a hospital; however, as resources increased, so did quality of care scores in both arms of the trial.

Trial registration

The QUARITE trial is registered on the Current Controlled Trials website under ISRCTN46950658

Status of emergency obstetric care in six developing countries five years before the MDG targets for maternal and newborn health

Background

Ensuring women have access to good quality Emergency Obstetric Care (EOC) is a key strategy to reducing maternal and newborn deaths. Minimum coverage rates are expected to be 1 Comprehensive (CEOC) and 4 Basic EOC (BEOC) facilities per 500,000 population.

Methods and Findings

A cross-sectional survey of 378 health facilities was conducted in Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Bangladesh and India between 2009 and 2011. This included 160 facilities designated to provide CEOC and 218 designated to provide BEOC. Fewer than 1 in 4 facilities aiming to provide CEOC were able to offer the nine required signal functions of CEOC (23.1%) and only 2.3% of health facilities expected to provide BEOC provided all seven signal functions. The two signal functions least likely to be provided included assisted delivery (17.5%) and manual vacuum aspiration (42.3%). Population indicators were assessed for 31 districts (total population = 15.7 million). The total number of available facilities (283) designated to provide EOC for this population exceeded the number required (158) a ratio of 1.8. However, none of the districts assessed met minimum UN coverage rates for EOC. The population based Caesarean Section rate was estimated to be <2%, the maternal Case Fatality Rate (CFR) for obstetric complications ranged from 2.0–9.3% and still birth (SB) rates ranged from 1.9–6.8%.

Conclusions

Availability of EOC is well below minimum UN target coverage levels. Health facilities in the surveyed countries do not currently have the capacity to adequately respond to and manage women with obstetric complications. To achieve MDG 5 by 2015, there is a need to ensure that the full range of signal functions are available in health facilities designated to provide CEOC or BEOC and improve the quality of services provided so that CFR and SB rates decline.

[Using routine information system data to assess maternal and perinatal care services in Mali and Senegal (QUARITE trial)]

BACKGROUND

In sub-Saharan Africa, problems of access to relevant and high-quality facility-based statistics hinder the assessment of safe motherhood programs. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of data collected in referral hospitals in Mali and Senegal after the routine information system (RIS) was strengthened.

METHODS

This was a multicenter observational study conducted during the pre-intervention period of a randomized controlled trial (trial QUARITE). The RIS was strengthened based on technical, organizational and behavioral factors. We included all women who gave birth in the 46 referral hospitals from October 1, 2007 to October 30, 2008. The completeness, completion and accuracy rates were monitored every 3 months in each hospital. The cost of investment needed to strengthen the existing RIS was also determined.

RESULTS

The mean completeness rate ranged from 94 to 97% depending on the study period. The completion and accuracy rates increased during the study period from 72% and 79% to 87% and 93%, respectively (significant differences). The average investment per hospital was less than 1% of state subsidies for public hospitals.

CONCLUSION

Strengthening the existing information system has set up an economically and technologically appropriate system for monitoring maternal and perinatal health in Senegal and Mali. We encourage policy makers and researchers from countries with limited resources to invest in RIS to improve and monitor the performance of health systems.

Childbirth attendance strategies and their impact on maternal mortality and morbidity in low-income settings: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

To review quantitative evidence of the effect on maternal health of different childbirth attendance strategies in low-income settings.

DESIGN

Systematic review.

METHODS

Studies using quantitative methods, referring to the period 1987-2011, written in English and reporting the impact of childbirth attendance strategies on maternal mortality or morbidity in low-income settings were included. Guidelines developed by the Cochrane collaboration and the Centre for Review and Dissemination, University of York were followed. The included articles were read and sorted by category of strategy that emerged from the reading.

RESULTS

The search criteria yielded 29 articles. The following three main categories of strategy emerged: (i) those primarily intended to improve quality of care; (ii) "centrifugal strategies," which sought to bring services to the women; and (iii) "centripetal strategies," which sought to bring the women to the services. Few of the studies had a design that provided strong evidence for the impact of the strategy concerned.

CONCLUSIONS

The evidence emerging from the studies was difficult to compare, because concepts were not defined in a consistent manner (such as "skilled birth attendance") and many studies examined the impact of a package of interventions without ferreting out the impact of individual components. Yet, some studies described individual aspects with great promise (such as cost, transport, outreach-friendly drugs or targeted training). There is a need for clearer conceptual frameworks, including some which permit assessment of packages of interventions.

[Obstetric care in Mali: effect of organization on in-hospital maternal mortality]

BACKGROUND

Maternal mortality is still too high in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in referral hospitals. Solutions exist but their implementation is a great issue in the poor-resources settings. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of the organization of obstetric care services on maternal mortality in referral hospitals in Mali.

METHODS

This is a multicentric observational survey in 22 referral hospitals. Clinical data on 42,929 women delivering in the 22 hospitals within the 2007 to 2008 study period were collected. Organization evaluation was based on explicit criteria defined by an expert committee. The effect of the organization on in-hospital mortality adjusted on individual and institutional characteristics was estimated using multi-level logistic regression models.

RESULTS

The results show that an optimal organization of obstetric care services based on eight explicit criteria reduced in-hospital maternal mortality by 41% compared with women delivering in a referral hospital with sub-optimal organization defined as non-compliance with at least one of the eight criteria (ORa=0.59; 95% CI=0.34-0.92). Furthermore, local policies that improved financial access to emergency obstetric care had a significant impact on maternal outcome.

CONCLUSION

Criteria for optimal organization include the management of labor and childbirth by qualified personnel, an organization of human resources that allows timely management of obstetric emergencies, routine use of partography for all patients and availability of guidelines for the management of complications. These conditions could be easily implemented in the context of Mali to reduce in-hospital maternal mortality.

Using audit to enhance quality of maternity care in resource limited countries: lessons learnt from rural Tanzania

BACKGROUND

Although clinical audit is an important instrument for quality care improvement, the concept has not yet been adequately taken on board in rural settings in most resource limited countries where the problem of maternal mortality is immense. Maternal mortality and morbidity audit was established at Saint Francis Designated District Hospital (SFDDH) in rural Tanzania in order to generate information upon which to base interventions.

METHODS

Methods are informed by the principles of operations research. An audit system was established, all patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria for maternal mortality and severe morbidity were reviewed and selected cases were audited from October 2008 to July 2010. The causes and underlying factors were identified and strategic action plans for improvement were developed and implemented.

RESULTS

There were 6572 deliveries and 363 severe maternal morbidities of which 36 women died making institutional case fatality rate of 10%. Of all morbidities 341 (94%) had at least one area of substandard care. Patients, health workers and administration related substandard care factors were identified in 50% - 61% of women with severe morbidities. Improving responsiveness to obstetric emergencies, capacity building of the workforce for health care, referral system improvement and upgrading of health centres located in hard to reach areas to provide comprehensive emergency obstetric care (CEmOC) were proposed and implemented as a result of audit.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that audit can be implemented in rural resource limited settings and suggest that the vast majority of maternal mortalities and severe morbidities can be averted even where resources are limited if strategic interventions are implemented.

Methodology and tools for quality improvement in maternal and newborn health care

OBJECTIVE

To gain an overview of approaches, methodologies, and tools used in quality improvement of maternal and newborn health in low-income countries.

METHODS

Electronic search of MEDLINE and organizational databases for literature describing approaches, methodologies, and tools used to improve the quality of maternal and newborn health care in low-income countries. Relevant papers and reports were reviewed and summarized.

RESULTS

Developing a culture of quality is an important requisite for successful quality improvement. Methodologies to improve quality include the development of standards and guidelines and the performance of mortality, near-miss, and criterion-based audits. Tools for data collection and process description were identified, and examples of work to improve quality of care are provided.

CONCLUSION

The documented experience with the identified approaches, methodologies, and tools indicates that none is sufficient by itself to achieve a desirable improvement in quality of care. The choice of methodologies and tools depends on the healthcare system and its available resources. There is a lack of studies that describe the process of quality improvement and a need for research to provide evidence of the effectiveness of the identified methods and tools.

Reduction of severe acute maternal morbidity and maternal mortality in Thyolo District, Malawi: the impact of obstetric audit

BACKGROUND

Critical incident audit and feedback are recommended interventions to improve the quality of obstetric care. To evaluate the effect of audit at district level in Thyolo, Malawi, we assessed the incidence of facility-based severe maternal complications (severe acute maternal morbidity (SAMM) and maternal mortality) during two years of audit and feedback.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Between September 2007 and September 2009, we included all cases of maternal mortality and SAMM that occurred in Thyolo District Hospital, the main referral facility in the area, using validated disease-specific criteria. During two- to three-weekly audit sessions, health workers and managers identified substandard care factors. Resulting recommendations were implemented and followed up. Feedback was given during subsequent sessions. A linear regression analysis was performed on facility-based severe maternal complications. During the two-year study period, 386 women were included: 46 died and 340 sustained SAMM, giving a case fatality rate of 11.9%. Forty-five cases out of the 386 inclusions were audited in plenary with hospital staff. There was a reduction of 3.1 women with severe maternal complications per 1000 deliveries in the district health facilities, from 13.5 per 1000 deliveries in the beginning to 10.4 per 1000 deliveries at the end of the study period. The incidence of uterine rupture and major obstetric hemorrhage reduced considerably (from 3.5 to 0.2 and from 5.9 to 2.6 per 1000 facility deliveries respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that audit and feedback have the potential to reduce serious maternal complications including maternal mortality. Complications like major hemorrhage and uterine rupture that require relatively straightforward intrapartum emergency management are easier to reduce than those which require uptake of improved antenatal care (eclampsia) or timely intravenous medication or HIV-treatment (peripartum infections).

Maternal health interventions in resource limited countries: a systematic review of packages, impacts and factors for change

Background

The burden of maternal mortality in resource limited countries is still huge despite being at the top of the global public health agenda for over the last 20 years. We systematically reviewed the impacts of interventions on maternal health and factors for change in these countries.

Methods

A systematic review was carried out using the guidelines for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Articles published in the English language reporting on implementation of interventions, their impacts and underlying factors for maternal health in resource limited countries in the past 23 years were searched from PubMed, Popline, African Index Medicus, internet sources including reproductive health gateway and Google, hand-searching, reference lists and grey literature.

Results

Out of a total of 5084 articles resulting from the search only 58 qualified for systematic review. Programs integrating multiple interventions were more likely to have significant positive impacts on maternal outcomes. Training in emergency obstetric care (EmOC), placement of care providers, refurbishment of existing health facility infrastructure and improved supply of drugs, consumables and equipment for obstetric care were the most frequent interventions integrated in 52% - 65% of all 54 reviewed programs. Statistically significant reduction of maternal mortality ratio and case fatality rate were reported in 55% and 40% of the programs respectively. Births in EmOC facilities and caesarean section rates increased significantly in 71% - 75% of programs using these indicators. Insufficient implementation of evidence-based interventions in resources limited countries was closely linked to a lack of national resources, leadership skills and end-users factors.

Conclusions

This article presents a list of evidenced-based packages of interventions for maternal health, their impacts and factors for change in resource limited countries. It indicates that no single magic bullet intervention exists for reduction of maternal mortality and that all interventional programs should be integrated in order to bring significant changes. State leaders and key actors in the health sectors in these countries and the international community are proposed to translate the lessons learnt into actions and intensify efforts in order to achieve the goals set for maternal health.

Seeking solutions: scaling-up audit as a quality improvement tool for infection control in Gujarat, India

QUALITY PROBLEM OR ISSUE

Surgical-site infections (SSIs) give rise to significant demands on the health systems as well as economic and social sequelae for patients. This article describes an audit for infection control developed in a surgical unit of a tertiary care setting in Gujarat state, India that was scaled-up to all state-owned hospitals in the district.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT

A retrospective baseline assessment of surgical infection rates in a general surgical unit revealed an infection rate of 30%.

CHOICE OF SOLUTION

An audit was implemented based on guidelines for SSI prevention published by the Centres of Disease Control.

IMPLEMENTATION

Surveillance and hospital epidemiology were established and practice reforms implemented. Monthly and annual meetings to review implementation were held.

EVALUATION

After 12 months, an 88% decrease in the infection rate in the surgical unit was demonstrated. Thereafter, the process was replicated across the surgical department and for all cases undergoing surgery. After 12 months, a 67% reduction in the infection rate was detected. The process has since been applied across the state.

LESSONS LEARNED

A locally owned and team-led process embedded within routine working conditions can challenge widely held perceptions, inform low-cost and no-cost remedial actions, and improve cultures of practice, quality of care and health outcomes. As urban populations grow, methods that are capable of continuously identifying, and responding to, problems and sustaining quality of care in facilities are necessary. SSIs may be largely preventable. With careful implementation, audit has the potential to be a major contributor to their reduction.

Promoting accountability in obstetric care: use of criteria-based audit in Viet Nam

Audits can improve clinical and managerial practices, enhance the rational use of limited resources, and improve staff morale and motivation. Staff at five hospitals in Thanh Hoa and Quang Tri provinces (Viet Nam) used criteria-based audit (CBA) as a tool to improve the quality of emergency obstetric and newborn care. CBA compares current practice with standards based on the best available evidence and the local context. The audit cycle begins with a known problem, proceeds with an initial assessment and data collection, analysis of those data, formulation and implementation of an action plan, and a re-evaluation of the topic initially assessed. Teams found that clinical protocols for treating major obstetric complications were not followed, although, national guidelines had been issued in 2002. In an audit of facility organisation, staff addressed obstacles to the timely treatment of obstetric emergencies during off hours. In each audit, teams devised mechanisms to correct problems that resulted in significant improvements when the audit cycle was repeated. CBA improved adherence to national guidelines, improved record-keeping, heightened teamwork, and showed staff that they could identify and solve many of their own problems.

QUARITE (quality of care, risk management and technology in obstetrics): a cluster-randomized trial of a multifaceted intervention to improve emergency obstetric care in Senegal and Mali

BACKGROUND

Maternal and perinatal mortality are major problems for which progress in sub-Saharan Africa has been inadequate, even though childbirth services are available, even in the poorest countries. Reducing them is the aim of two of the main Millennium Development Goals. Many initiatives have been undertaken to remedy this situation, such as the Advances in Labour and Risk Management (ALARM) International Program, whose purpose is to improve the quality of obstetric services in low-income countries. However, few interventions have been evaluated, in this context, using rigorous methods for analyzing effectiveness in terms of health outcomes. The objective of this trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of the ALARM International Program (AIP) in reducing maternal mortality in referral hospitals in Senegal and Mali. Secondary goals include evaluation of the relationships between effectiveness and resource availability, service organization, medical practices, and satisfaction among health personnel.

METHODS/DESIGN

This is an international, multi-centre, controlled cluster-randomized trial of a complex intervention. The intervention is based on the concept of evidence-based practice and on a combination of two approaches aimed at improving the performance of health personnel: 1) Educational outreach visits; and 2) the implementation of facility-based maternal death reviews. The unit of intervention is the public health facility equipped with a functional operating room. On the basis of consent provided by hospital authorities, 46 centres out of 49 eligible were selected in Mali and Senegal. Using randomization stratified by country and by level of care, 23 centres will be allocated to the intervention group and 23 to the control group. The intervention will last two years. It will be preceded by a pre-intervention one-year period for baseline data collection. A continuous clinical data collection system has been set up in all participating centres. This, along with the inventory of resources and the satisfaction surveys administered to the health personnel, will allow us to measure results before, during, and after the intervention. The overall rate of maternal mortality measured in hospitals during the post-intervention period (Year 4) is the primary outcome. The evaluation will also include cost-effectiveness.

Improving obstetric care in low-resource settings: implementation of facility-based maternal death reviews in five pilot hospitals in Senegal

BACKGROUND

In sub-Saharan Africa, maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity are major problems. Service availability and quality of care in health facilities are heterogeneous and most often inadequate. In resource-poor settings, the facility-based maternal death review or audit is one of the most promising strategies to improve health service performance. We aim to explore and describe health workers' perceptions of facility-based maternal death reviews and to identify barriers to and facilitators of the implementation of this approach in pilot health facilities of Senegal.

METHODS

This study was conducted in five reference hospitals in Senegal with different characteristics. Data were collected from focus group discussions, participant observations of audit meetings, audit documents and interviews with the staff of the maternity unit. Data were analysed by means of both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

RESULTS

Health professionals and service administrators were receptive and adhered relatively well to the process and the results of the audits, although some considered the situation destabilizing or even threatening. The main barriers to the implementation of maternal deaths reviews were: (1) bad quality of information in medical files; (2) non-participation of the head of department in the audit meetings; (3) lack of feedback to the staff who did not attend the audit meetings. The main facilitators were: (1) high level of professional qualifications or experience of the data collector; (2) involvement of the head of the maternity unit, acting as a moderator during the audit meetings; (3) participation of managers in the audit session to plan appropriate and realistic actions to prevent other maternal deaths.

CONCLUSION

The identification of the barriers to and the facilitators of the implementation of maternal death reviews is an essential step for the future adaptation of this method in countries with few resources. We recommend for future implementation of this method a prior enhancement of the perinatal information system and initial training of the members of the audit committee--particularly the data collector and the head of the maternity unit. Local leadership is essential to promote, initiate and monitor the audit process in the health facilities.

Establishing the evidence base for trauma quality improvement: a collaborative WHO-IATSIC review

BACKGROUND

Quality improvement (QI) programs are an integral part of well-developed trauma systems. However, they have not been extensively implemented globally. To promote greater use of effective QI programs, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care (IATSIC) have been collaboratively developing the upcoming Guidelines for Trauma Quality Improvement Programmes. As part of the development of this publication and to satisfy global demands for WHO guidelines to be evidence based, we conducted a thorough literature search on the effectiveness of trauma QI programs.

METHODS

The review was based on a PubMed search of all articles reporting an outcome from a trauma QI program.

RESULTS

Thirty-six articles were identified that reported results of evaluations of a trauma QI program or in which the trauma QI program was integrally related to identification and correction of specific problems. Thirteen of these articles reported on mortality as their main outcome; 12 reported on changes in morbidity (infection rates, complications), patient satisfaction, costs, or other outcomes of tangible patient benefit; and 11 reported on changes in process of care. Thirty articles addressed hospital-based care; four system-wide care; and two prehospital care. Thirty-four articles reported an improvement in the outcome assessed; two reported no change; and none reported worsening of the outcome. Five articles also reported cost savings.

CONCLUSIONS

Trauma QI programs are consistently shown to improve the process of care, decrease mortality, and decrease costs. Further efforts to promote trauma QI globally are warranted. These findings support the further development and promulgation of the WHO-IATSIC Guidelines for Trauma QI Programmes.

Effect of audit and feedback on the availability, utilisation and quality of emergency obstetric care in three districts in Malawi

BACKGROUND

Facility-based maternal death reviews and criterion-based clinical audit, were introduced in three districts in Malawi in 2006.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can audit and feedback improve the availability, utilisation and quality of emergency obstetric care (EmOC)?

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

Observational study in which emergency obstetric care offered to women who gave birth in 73 health facilities (13 hospitals and 60 health centres) in three districts in Malawi in 2005 (baseline, 41,637 women) was compared to 2006 (43,729 women) and 2007 (51,085 women).

RESULTS

The number of comprehensive and basic EmOC facilities did not change over the 3-year period (p for trend=1.000). Although institutional delivery rate decreased in 2006, overall it increased over 3 years (p for trend<0.001) - 31.8% (2005), 31.1% (2006) and 34.7% (2007), and Caesarean section rate was low and did not change (p for trend=0.257) - 1.7% (2005), 1.6% (2006) and 1.5% (2007). There was a significant increase in the met need for EmOC (p for trend<0.001) - 15.2% for 2005, 17.0% for 2006 and 18.8% for 2007. Maternal mortality decreased significantly from 250 per 100,000 women in 2005 to 222 in 2006 and 182 in 2007 (p for trend<0.001). Similarly, the case fatality rate decreased monotonically (p for trend<0.001) - 3.7% (2005), 3.0% (2006) and 1.5% (2007).

DISCUSSION

Audit and feedback can improve availability, utilisation and quality of emergency obstetric care in countries with limited resources.

CONCLUSION

There is need to increase availability of emergency obstetric care by upgrading some health centres to EmOC level through training of staff and provision of equipment and supplies.

Human resources for maternal health: multi-purpose or specialists?

A crucial question in the aim to attain MDG5 is whether it can be achieved faster with the scaling up of multi-purpose health workers operating in the community or with the scaling up of professional skilled birth attendants working in health facilities. Most advisers concerned with maternal mortality reduction concur to promote births in facilities with professional attendants as the ultimate strategy. The evidence, however, is scarce on what it takes to progress in this path, and on the 'interim solutions' for situations where the majority of women still deliver at home. These questions are particularly relevant as we have reached the twentieth anniversary of the safe motherhood initiative without much progress made. In this paper we review the current situation of human resources for maternal health as well as the problems that they face. We propose seven key areas of work that must be addressed when planning for scaling up human resources for maternal health in light of MDG5, and finally we indicate some advances recently made in selected countries and the lessons learned from these experiences. Whilst the focus of this paper is on maternal health, it is acknowledged that the interventions to reduce maternal mortality will also contribute to significantly reducing newborn mortality. Addressing each of the seven key areas of work--recommended by the first International Forum on 'Midwifery in the Community', Tunis, December 2006--is essential for the success of any MDG5 programme. We hypothesize that a great deal of the stagnation of maternal health programmes has been the result of confusion and careless choices in scaling up between a limited number of truly skilled birth attendants and large quantities of multi-purpose workers with short training, fewer skills, limited authority and no career pathways. We conclude from the lessons learnt that no significant progress in maternal mortality reduction can be achieved without a strong political decision to empower midwives and others with midwifery skills, and a substantial strengthening of health systems with a focus on quality of care rather than on numbers, to give them the means to respond to the challenge.

The difficulty of questioning clinical practice: experience of facility-based case reviews in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

OBJECTIVE

To describe the implementation of facility-based case reviews (medical audits) in a maternity unit and their effect on the staff involved.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional descriptive study.

SETTING

A 26-bed obstetric unit in a district hospital in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

SAMPLE

Sixteen audit sessions conducted between February 2004 and June 2005. Thirty-five staff members were interviewed.

METHODS

An analysis of all the tools used in the management of the audit was performed: attendance lists, case summary cards and register of recommendations. The perceptions of the staff about the audits were collected through a questionnaire administrated by an external investigator from 10 June 2005 to 16 June 2005.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Session participation, types of problems identified, recommendations proposed and implemented and staff reaction to the audits.

RESULTS

Only 7 midwives from a total of 15 regularly attended the sessions. Eighty-two percent of the recommendations made during the audits have been implemented, but sometimes after a delay of several months. Interviewed personnel had a good understanding of the audit goals and viewed audit as a factor in changing their practice. However, midwives highlighted problems of bad interpersonal communication and lack of anonymity during the audit sessions, and pointed out the difficulty of practising self-criticism.

CONCLUSIONS

A lack of staff commitment and the resistance of maternity personnel to being evaluated by their peers or service users are reducing acceptance of routine audits. The World Health Organization must take all these factors into account when promoting the institutionalisation of medical audits in obstetrics.

Maternal mortality surveillance in Jamaica

OBJECTIVES

To assess factors associated with under-reporting of maternal deaths from 1998, when maternal deaths became a Class I notifiable event in Jamaica and continuous maternal mortality surveillance was introduced, through 2003.

METHODS

The number of deaths notified was compared with the number of independently identified deaths for each period and region studied, and key informants reported on their experience of the surveillance process.

RESULTS

By 2000, approximately 80% of maternal deaths were reported, and was more consistent in 2 of the 4 regions. In these 2 regions someone was responsible for active surveillance and there was an established maternal mortality committee to review cases. Factors associated with nonreporting were no postmortem examination, death in the first trimester of pregnancy, and time interval between pregnancy termination and death. The surveillance staff requested guidelines on monitoring interregional transfers and technical assistance in developing action plans.

CONCLUSION

Active hospital surveillance must include all wards, including the emergency department. Community surveillance should include forensic pathologists. National leadership is needed to summarize trends, address policy, and provide technical assistance to the surveillance staff.

Evidence-Based Strategies for Implementing Guidelines in Obstetrics

OBJECTIVE

To estimate effective strategies for implementing clinical practice guidelines in obstetric care and to identify specific barriers to behavior change and facilitators in obstetrics.

DATA SOURCES

The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and MEDLINE were consulted from January 1990 to June 2005. Additional studies were identified by screening reference lists from identified studies and experts' suggestions.

METHODS OF STUDY SELECTION

Studies of clinical practice guidelines implementation strategies in obstetric care and reviews of such studies were selected. Randomized controlled trials, controlled before-after studies, and interrupted time series studies were evaluated according to Effective Practice and Organization of Care criteria standards.

TABULATION, INTEGRATION, AND RESULTS

Studies were reviewed by two investigators to assess the quality and the efficacy of each strategy. Discordances between the two reviewers were resolved by consensus. In obstetrics, educational strategies with medical providers are generally ineffective; educational strategies with paramedical providers, opinion leaders, qualitative improvement, and academic detailing have mixed effects; audit and feedback, reminders, and multifaceted strategies are generally effective. These findings differ from data on the efficacy of clinical practice guidelines implementation strategies in other medical specialties. Specific barriers to behavior change in obstetrics and methods to overcome these barriers could explain these differences. The proportion of effective strategies is significantly higher among the interventions that include a prospective identification of barriers to change compared with standardized interventions.

CONCLUSION

Prospective identification of efficient strategies and barriers to change is necessary to achieve a better adaptation of intervention and to improve clinical practice guidelines implementation. In the field of obstetric care, multifaceted strategy based on audit and feedback and facilitated by local opinion leaders is recommended to effectively change behaviors.