title: Preparedness of health care professionals in preventing maternal mortality at a public health facility in Ghana: a qualitative study.
abstract: Preparedness of health care professionals for emergency situations is quite indispensable in quality health care; yet, information barely exists on the preparedness of health care professionals for emergency cases in health facilities in Ghana. This study sought to assess the preparedness of health professionals in preventing maternal mortality cases at a public health facility in Ghana.
  
  
  
  This is a qualitative study that used purposive and convenient sampling techniques to recruit 12 health care professionals for in-depth interviews. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and the results presented in themes verbatim.
  
  
  
  The results show that health care professionals at the hospital were ill-equipped to effectively handle maternal mortality cases in the municipality. As such, inadequate staff size and dearth of essential logistics militate against the preparedness of health care professionals in curbing maternal mortality.
  
  
  
  More health care professionals and essential logistics should, therefore, be provided by the Ghana Health Service to augment the existing ones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Amu
authors.affiliation: Department of Population and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Hohoe, Ghana. samharrenson@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Samuel H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Nyarko
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D006268:Health Facilities; D006282:Health Personnel; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D008428:Maternal Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D008875:Middle Aged; D024382:Professional Role; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ghana; Health professionals; Maternal mortality; Preparedness