An evaluation of postnatal care individualised to the needs of the woman.
Traditionally, in Scotland women have been visited daily in their own home until the 10th postnatal day. There has been concern about the ability of such a service to offer continuity of care. A 'before and after' study was undertaken at Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital to assess the effects of introducing individualised postnatal care. In the first stage information was collected on 106 women to obtain baseline information. In the second stage information was collected on 114 women who had experienced individualised care. The women in the two stages were not significantly different in terms of age, parity, mode of delivery and problems encountered. The average number of midwives visiting during the postnatal period fell from 3.7 to 2.5 and the average number of visits fell from 6.5 to 5.7 visits. Both forms of care, standard and individualised, were popular with women, but the proportion who felt a daily visit necessary dropped significantly. Continuity of care was improved with individualising care to the needs of the woman and women were satisfied with this type of care. The change is likely to be cost effective, since a higher quality of care can be provided for the same, or slightly less cost.
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009721:Nurse Midwives / Q000592:standards*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000592:standards*