Quality assessment of routine antenatal care services provided at a primary healthcare facility in a rural area of Delhi, India: A record-based study.

Abstract

Antenatal care (ANC) can be defined as the care provided by skilled health-care professionals to pregnant women in order to ensure the best health outcomes. Good quality routine antenatal care forms the foundation of positive pregnancy experience. The primary care facilities play a significant role in improving antenatal care in peripheral areas. The primary objective of this study was to assess the quality of ANC provided to pregnant women at a primary health care facility in a rural area of Delhi. Available previous records from 1^st of July 2019 to 30^th of June 2023 were analysed. Quality assessment was done using a scoring tool, Antenatal Care Quality Assessment Tool (with a score range from 1-42). Statistical analysis was done using R studio. Records of 611 women were analysed. The overall mean score of ANC-QAT in our study was 18.97 (SD = 6.02). 28% of the women received poor quality ANC (score ≤ 15), 55.5% received satisfactory quality ANC (score 16-25), and 16.5% received good quality ANC (score ≥ 26). Chi-square results showed that the women who belonged to a joint family, those who had education till high school or above, and those with a history of previous complications were more likely to have four or more ANC visits as compared to their counterpart. The majority of the women received satisfactory or good quality antenatal care. However, there is a scope for improvement in certain areas such as the number of ANC visits, blood investigations, deworming, and record keeping.