Evaluating the implementation of Mother-Friendly Hospital Steps in Qazvin, Iran

Given the importance of developing mother-friendly hospitals (MFHs) in order to promote normal delivery and respect mothers’ rights, the present study was conducted to evauate the implementation of MFH steps in the hospitals of Qazvin, Iran.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in all Qazvin hospitals (five public and four private hospitals) in Iran in 2017. The standard MFH checklist was used for data collection. The checklist included 10 steps and 110 items related to the places, equipments, facilities, records, hospital statistical data. MFH checklist was completed through observation, assessment of medical records and interview with 210 clients and staff. Expected level of MFH was considered at 80% in all steps. The data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 24).

Two hospitals obtained accepted scores at all steps. However, the achievement rates in steps 1 (i.e., current perinatal care), 3 (i.e., emergency services), 5 (i.e., preparation of labor classes), 7 (i.e., avoiding unnecessary care), 9 (i.e., trained doula), and 10 (neonate-friendly hospital) were 88.43%, 90.90%, 87.14%, 80.25%, 84.16%, and 100%, which were higher than the expected level (80%). In other steps, especially in step 8 (i.e., physiological delivery), the reported rate was very low (39.86%).

In order to obtain the MFH certificate in Qazvin hospitals, it was required to improve the access to specialized midwifery services, employing trained staff to respect clients, and using pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods for labor pain relief to increase the rate of physiological birth.