Quality of care in the delivery room: Focusing on respectful maternal care practices

This study provided a descriptive overview of the care provided in the delivery room focused on respectful maternity care as perceived by women during labor and delivery in a maternity and child health hospital in Egypt. The dimensions examined were those related to services that arepatient-friendly, free of abuse, timely and free of discrimination. A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted at the postpartum department in Minia University Maternity and Child Health Hospital in Minia, Egypt. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants from a population of postpartum women who delivered their babies in the hospital, received delivery services from 6 hours to 7 days before the study period. The 15-item Respectful Maternal Care (RMC) Scale was used for this study. A total of 580 questionnaires were distributed to the postpartum women in the hospital and 501 were completed and collected giving a retrieval rate of 86.4%. The findings indicated that majority of the postpartum mothers felt that they received friendly care, abuse-free care and a timely care on a moderate degree during childbirth. Generally, the postpartum mothers felt that they received a high degree of discrimination free care during childbirth. Overall, the postpartum mothers in this study experienced moderate degree of respectful maternity care during childbirth. Although the general findings show moderate respectful maternity care, more than fifty percent of the postpartum mothers experienced being shouted at by healthcare workers and more than half of the postpartum mothers claim that they were not given prompt service by the healthcare workers and waiting time is long. These aspects of maternity care need to be improved.