title: A tool for assessing 'readiness' in emergency obstetric care: the room-by-room 'walk-through'.
abstract: This article presents a tool that can be used to assess the readiness of a health facility to provide emergency obstetric care. The 'walk-through' tool is a checklist that follows the physical path that a woman and her caregivers might follow. The items on the checklist are critical to an enabling environment in which skilled providers can save lives. The article explains how the tool can be used and by whom, and it describes several experiences in the field.
authors.affiliation: AMDD, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. zg41@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Waxman
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D008428:Maternal Mortality; D017146:Models, Organizational; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011247:Pregnancy; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D014481:United States