[A survey among pregnant women about their expectations towards the maternity clinic to inform internal quality improvement procedures].
BACKGROUND
Transparent and effective quality management is an essential marketing tool for maternity clinics. Procedures for quality assurance in maternity clinics differ from those in other medical professions. Apart from evidence-based health care the pregnant woman's choice of maternity services providers is increasingly influenced by a number of other factors as well, such as, for example, the response to individual needs or the staff. Hence, the facilities need to present their services and quality of care according to the needs of the target group.


METHODS
In order to identify these needs, a survey was performed among 152 pregnant women during the "Baby Fair", which took place in Berlin in 2006. The objective of the survey was to find out about the preferences and expectations of pregnant women towards the maternity clinic and breastfeeding and their current criteria for the choice of a maternity clinic. The questionnaire contained questions about expectations towards the maternity clinic staff, traditional medicine and alternative medicine, premises, courses offered, rooming-in and expectations towards breastfeeding.


RESULTS
The findings from the survey show that the pregnant women's ratings for personal contact, expertise and kindness of the staff were twice as high as for premises, comfort and service. The provision of traditional versus alternative medicine was rated equally. More than 90% of the respondents do see a demand for specific public relations campaigns by maternity clinics concerning information about the particular institution, its range of activities and the impact and process of rooming-in. Only 20% of the respondents felt sufficiently informed about breastfeeding.


CONCLUSIONS
Besides medical and technical factors, staff factors play a key role in the assessment of maternity clinics. In addition to evidence-based medical information communication strategies should also include information on the staff employed. In particular, information is lacking on rooming-in and breastfeeding, which emphasises the necessity for the timely provision of scientifically based information to pregnant women.
Wöckel
Achim
A
Arztliches Zentrum für Qualität in der Medizin, Berlin. woeckach@gmx.de
Sänger
Sylvia
S
Strecker
Jürgen
J
Abou-Dakn
Michael
M
D001942:Breast Feeding; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006277:Health Fairs; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000523:psychology*; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D012386:Rooming-in Care / Q000592:standards