Effectiveness of Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) training among doctors, nurses and midwives of BEmONC certified RHU's in Northern Iloilo

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy and child birth are among the leading causes of death, disease, and disability in women of reproductive age in developing countries. In the Philippines, the estimates are 4,000 mothers and almost 34,000 neonates die annually. Most maternal deaths occur during labor, delivery and the immediate postpartum period due to complications from pregnancy. The Department of Health created the Maternal Newborn Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) strategy to achieve the twin goals of maternal and neonatal mortality reduction. Under this strategy, Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) facilities was developed (DOH, 2011).

Purpose of the study: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of BEmONC training among doctors, nurses, and midwives of BEmONC Certified RHUs in Northern Iloilo.

Methodology: This study employed a descriptive design. Conducted in September 2014, all BEmONC trained doctors, nurses and midwives from BEmONC certified RHUs (1 year or more) from the 5th district were taken as participants. A questionnaire based from the DOH Evaluation Tool, which was divided into four criteria: Provision of Quality Antenatal Care, Provision of Quality Labor and Delivery, Provision of Quality Postpartum Care and Performance of Essential Newborn Care, was given to the participants to answer. A record review tool was also utilized. The total number of deliveries, maternal and neonatal death, Maternal Morbidity Rate and Neonatal Mortality Rate, number of referrals and number of women with complete prenatal visits before and after certification were also included but were only described. Mean and standard deviation were employed for descriptive statistics and paired sample t-test, set at .05 alpha for inferential analysis.

Results: Results revealed that there were significant differences in the practices of doctors, nurses and midwives before and after BEmONC training. The trained health-care workers indicated there were several activities that they did not practice after BEmONC training and at the same time, there were new activities that they practiced after training, such as, the six (6) obstetric signal functions and emergency newborn interventions.

Recommendations: Based on the result, regular training of the doctors, nurses and midwives is recommended for maintenance and further improvement in the provision of Maternal and Newborn Care.