Quality assessment of prenatal care in Kohgiloyeh and Boyerahmad Province, Iran

Prenatal care is an effective intervention for improving pregnancy outcomes, reducing its mortality and morbidity, saving mother's health and bearing a healthy newborn. Evaluation of prenatal care, in terms of its coverage and nature, and improvement of care standards, delivered by care providers has an important role in promotion of mother and infant's health. In a cross sectional study, quality of prenatal care was evaluated in urban areas of kohgiloyeh and Boyerahmad province. Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) was employed for quality assessment as well as for measuring the efficacy and feasibility of LQAS in evaluation of primary health care services. A checklist was completed for data collection via direct observation. Results showed that selected urban centers were classified as follows: 4 of 15 centers had lowest rate, 3 centers had highest rate and others had acceptable quality care. There was a shortage of Ferrous Sulfate tablets and Id. card in the area of the study. Quality of prenatal care in the following areas was unacceptable and required appropriate intervention: history taking, abdomen examination, edema examination; essential pregnancy education, weighting, high risk pregnancy diagnosis and referral. Quality of prenatal care  promotion through improvement of knowledge and performance of care providers in the province is an inevitable necessity, especially attention to the centers with lowest rate quality.