THE REAL QUALITY OF MATERNITY CARE IN IRAN HOSPITALS: A QUALITY ASSESSMENT STUDY

Promotion of the level of quality was declared as one of the five global strategies to improve reproductive health programs in 2004. The
World Health Organization accentuates on the monitoring and assessing the structure, process, and outcome of services in order to promote
the level of quality. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of midwifery care provided for natural childbirth in two selected hospitals of
Urmia University of Medical Sciences. This analytical study was conducted on 200 women with normal pregnancy admitted to the hospitals.
They were all selected using census sampling technique. In this study, a questionnaire was used to collect the required data. The
questionnaire was filled out in four stages of birth with a midwife observation. Finally, in order to analyze the data, SPSS20 statistical
software was utilized. The mean quality of midwifery care in the cities of Khoy and Bukan was 38.06 ± 0.59 and 32 ± 7.69, respectively.
According to the results of Mann-Whitney statistical test, there was a significant difference (p=0.000) between the mean quality of midwifery
care in the two cities. This means that the means are not equal, and the mean quality of midwifery care in Khoy is higher than that in Bukan.
The quality of midwifery care for the four stages of childbirth showed that in most areas under review, though the level of quality was not
desirable, patients' satisfaction with the provided services was at a high level. According to the results of the current study, it was found that
despite the importance of midwifery care in improving maternal health, quality of care is not desirable and it is necessary for the authorities
to take some actions in order to improve the quality of midwifery services using specialized personnel, development of staff, and paying
attention to the mental needs of patients, etc..