Recorded presentation

Rebecca Stoltzfus Dineen, MS¹, Amy Rial, RN/MPH², Tsigue Pleah, MD³, Blandine Thiéba, MD⁴, Paul S. Nebié, MD⁵, Yolande Hyjazi, MD⁶, and Cheryl Treacy-Lenda¹. (1) Africa Office, JHPIEGO, 1615 Thames street, Baltimore, MD 21231, (2) Africa Office - JHPIEGO, The JHPIEGO Corporation, Browns Wharf, 1615 Thames St, Baltimore, Maryland, MD 21231, (3) Learning Performance and Support Office - JHPIEGO, Learning Performance and Support Office - JHPIEGO, Browns Wharf, 1615 Thames St, Baltimore, MD 21231, (410) 614 - 0585, tpleah@jhpiego.org, (4) La Cellule de Recherche en Santé de la Réproduction (CRESAR), 01 BP 1330, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, (5) JHPIEGO, Burkina Faso, Immeuble sis côté ouest de la Bank of Africa, Avenue de la Résistance du 17 mai Secteur N° 4 01 BP 5654, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, (6) Faculte De Medecine-Pharmacie-Odonto-Stomatologie, Université de Conakry, c/o M Magette Barry, SGTT BP 3345, Conakry, Guinea

The West African countries of Burkina Faso and Guinea have some of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. Because unsafe abortion continues to account for approximately 20% of maternal mortality in Burkina and 17% in Guinea, Postabortion Care (PAC) programs in these two countries used the Performance Improvement (PI) process to improve the quality of PAC services at four national teaching hospitals. This structured approach assisted service providers and administrators to efficiently identify, analyze, and resolve challenges common to delivering quality PAC services in low-resource settings. In 2003, national and regional stakeholders in both countries developed standards for desired performance in PAC services based on service delivery guidelines. Staff members from the four hospitals then measured actual performance against those standards. The two teaching hospitals in Burkina initially each met 35% of the PAC performance standards while the two Guinea hospitals initially met 25% and 21% of the standards. The sites then developed and implemented action plans to remedy these gaps, leading to immediate and significant improvements without external aid. After only three months, the two teaching hospitals in Burkina scored 68% and 65% in follow-up assessments with significant improvements in counseling, infection prevention and pain management. The PI process has proven to be a motivating, consensus-driven, and cost-effective method for improving the quality of PAC services and encouraging more women to seek out the higher quality care. The program’s next aim is to integrate the PI approach into the national reproductive health strategies in Burkina Faso and Guinea.

Learning Objectives:

• - Describe the Performance Improvement (PI) process as it applies to Postabortion Care (PAC) services.
• - Explain the multiple benefits of using the PI process as a tool for independently achieving improvements in all aspects of PAC service delivery.

Keywords: Post-Abortion Care, Quality Improvement

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I am an employee of JHPIEGO Corp., an affiliate of The Johns Hopkins University. The programs described in this presentation were funded under the USAID project Training in Reproductive Health by employees, consultants of JHPIEGO as well as by organizati

Recorded presentation