Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (14)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Khayat, R.
Right arrow Articles by Campbell, O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Khayat, R.
Right arrow Articles by Campbell, O.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Health Policy and Planning; 15(3): 270-278
© Oxford University Press 2000

Hospital practices in maternity wards in Lebanon

Rita Khayat1 and Oona Campbell2

1 Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon and
2 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

This study was conducted in Lebanon with the main objectives of acquiring baseline data on practices and routines applied in the obstetrics ward for women having normal delivery; estimating the frequency of certain practices; and assessing whether women are given choice in these practices. A national sample of 39 hospitals was selected. The director, head midwife, or head nurse of the obstetrics department was interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire.

The hospitals studied are largely equipped to cope with emergencies and services are available 24 hours a day. On average, the caesarean section rate is 18% and the stillbirth rate is 10 per 1000, but with considerable variability between facilities. The majority of hospitals do not have written policies or standard birth procedures and lack mechanisms for evaluation. Generally, minimal prenatal information is given to women. Companions are allowed during labour but this access is more restricted in delivery. The reported configuration of professional care during labour and delivery is favourable to high quality care. In terms of mobility during labour, most hospitals allow women to move. However, 31 hospitals set an i.v. drip to all women and some use continuous fetal monitoring method. Mobility is restricted in delivery; in 23 hospitals women are tied down. Nearly all hospitals give intra-muscular anaesthesia whereas epidurals are used less frequently. As for postpartum care, most hospitals do not initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth and few have rooming in. The majority of hospitals do not provide women with family planning methods and a few do not even discuss methods with them.

The approach used in this study constitutes a tool for understanding and assessing maternity services that should be applied in other settings. The tool is available from the authors.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Health Policy PlanHome page
K. Danishevski, D. Balabanova, M. Mckee, and J. Parkhurst
Delivering babies in a time of transition in Tula, Russia
Health Policy Plan., May 1, 2006; 21(3): 195 - 205.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.