Evaluation of Family Planning Service in a Primary Health Care Unit in Mokattam – Cairo – Egypt

Abstract

Family planning has contributed greatly to fertility decline in developing countries. The availability and quality of family planning services are believed to have contributed to increasing contraceptive use and declining fertility rates in developing countries.

Patient satisfaction has emerged as increasingly important parameter in the assessment of family planning quality and health care performance, thus measuring client satisfaction can be useful way of evaluating certain aspects of quality and increases in satisfaction may indicate improved quality and better prospects for sustainability.

The objectives of our cross-sectional study were to evaluate the process of family planning service and assess attendant satisfaction in Mokattam primary health care unit, and to identify the main barriers reported by attendant in family planning clinics.

The study was conducted on 400 women attended the primary health care centre; each of them was offered to share in the study. A questionnaire and an observational checklist were taken after agreement of client.

The socio-demographic characters of respondents showed that the age of most of them (53%) ranged from 25 to 35 years old, 76% were living in rural areas, 78.7% were not working and 49.5% of them received school education. The husband was the head of the family in 98.5% of them; the husband’s age ranged from 25 to 35 years old in 60% of them, 62.8% of the husbands received school education, 41% of

the husbands worked as clerks and the number of family members ranged from 3 to 5 years in 73.9% of them.

The gynecologic and obstetric status of the respondent showed that 52.5% of them aged from 20 to 24 years old at marriage, 56% of them aged from 20 to 24 at the first pregnancy, 56% of them aged 25 to 35 years old at the last pregnancy and 66.2% had normal delivery. Out of the respondents; 14.8% had medical diseases; 62.7% had diabetes, 35.6% had hypertension and 1.7% had tumors.

The overall satisfaction among the respondents was 97%. As regards the socio-demographic characteristics; there were significant differences between non satisfied and satisfied groups regarding residence, number of deliveries and educational level. Meanwhile there were insignificant differences between non satisfied and satisfied groups as regards knowledge and interrelationship during receiving the service, and the access to the family planning service.

As regards the interpersonal relations and routine care assessed by observational checklist; the entire respondents agreed on that privacy was maintained during client service while most of them (91%-99.8%) agreed on the other seven items (dress in white, confidentiality is assured for seek of the client, greet the client at the beginning, review client medical record, ask about number of previous visits, refer client if needed, discuss return visit).

Universal precautions assessed through observational check list showed that 96.5% checked for wear gloves item, while 79% to 80.5% checked the remaining 5 items (hand wash with soap and water before the procedure, hand was with soap and water after the procedure, hand wash with soap and water after removing the gloves, clean, disinfect and sterilize appropriately, table tops cleaned with disinfectant solution after each case).