Patients' perception of obstetric practice in Calabar, Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the influence of patients' perception of obstetric practice in Calabar on the low utilization of health facilities for delivery.


METHODS
The University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, the general hospital and eight private clinics in Calabar were visited daily for a period of one month to interview postnatal mothers. This was to ascertain the mothers' perception of obstetric care in these facilities and their attitude towards some selected birth practices.


RESULTS
All the interviewed mothers had some formal education, and 133 (92.4%) were aged 20 years and above. One hundred and forty (97.2%) of the mothers were satisfied with at least one aspect of care received. Areas of satisfaction mentioned by the mothers include attitude of health staff 114 (81.4%), clinical care received 85 (60.7%), sanitation of the facility 61 (43.6%), and basic amenities 47 (33.6%), poor sanitary condition of the health facility and lack of basic amenities were the major causes of dissatisfaction. Few mothers, 31 (22%) disagreed with dorsal position during second stage of labor. Most mothers, 92 (63.9%) would want pain relief in labor; 19 (13.2%) did not appreciate shaving of pubic hair and 50 (34.7%) felt episiotomy was not necessary for safe delivery.


CONCLUSIONS
To improve the utilization of obstetric services in Calabar, basic amenities such as water and sanitation should be provided; and there should be restriction of routine birth practices that have no evidence of effectiveness.
Oyo-Ita
A E
AE
Department of Community Health, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria.
Etuk
S J
SJ
Ikpeme
B M
BM
Ameh
S S
SS
Nsan
E N
EN
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006296:Health Services; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009549:Nigeria; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception; D011247:Pregnancy; D011787:Quality of Health Care