BackgroundSkilled attendants during labor, delivery, and in the early postpartum period, can prevent up to 75% or more of maternal death. However, in many developing countries, very few mothers make at least one antenatal visit and even less receive delivery care from skilled professionals. The present study reports findings from a region where key challenges related to transportation and availability of obstetric services were addressed by an ongoing project, giving a unique opportunity to understand why women might continue to prefer home delivery even when facility based delivery is available at minimal cost.MethodsThe study took place in Ethiopia using a mixed study design employing a cross sectional household survey among 15–49 year old women combined with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.ResultsSeventy one percent of mothers received antenatal care from a health professional (doctor, health officer, nurse, or midwife) for their most recent birth in the one year preceding the survey. Overall only 16% of deliveries were assisted by health professionals, while a significant majority (78%) was attended by traditional birth attendants. The most important reasons for not seeking institutional delivery were the belief that it is not necessary (42%) and not customary (36%), followed by high cost (22%) and distance or lack of transportation (8%). The group discussions and interviews identified several reasons for the preference of traditional birth attendants over health facilities. Traditional birth attendants were seen as culturally acceptable and competent health workers. Women reported poor quality of care and previous negative experiences with health facilities. In addition, women’s low awareness on the advantages of skilled attendance at delivery, little role in making decisions (even when they want), and economic constraints during referral contribute to the low level of service utilization.ConclusionsThe study indicated the crucial role of proper health care provider-client communication and providing a more client centered and culturally sensitive care if utilization of existing health facilities is to be maximized. Implications of findings for maternal health programs and further research are discussed.

BackgroundStudies have shown that medical students experience the transition between preclinical and clinical training as a stressful period. They are generally frustrated by their inability to apply their knowledge to solve clinical problems in practice. Preclinical patient contacts may offer a solution to this 'shock of practice.' We studied how students who have had preclinical patient contacts perceive the transition from preclinical to clinical training and, more specifically, how they value these early patient contacts as preparation for learning in clinical practice.MethodsA purposive sample of 21 students participated in three focus groups which met twice during their first weeks of clinical clerkships. The interviews were recorded and transcribed literally. Qualitative content analysis of the transcriptions was performed.ResultsAccording to the students, working in clinical practice was enjoyable, motivated them to study and helped them to develop non-analytical reasoning skills. The students experienced stress due to increased working hours and work load, uncertainty as to what was expected of them and self-perceived lack of knowledge. They did not experience a major gap between the preclinical and clinical phase and felt well prepared for the clerkships. The preclinical patient contacts were considered to be instrumental in this.ConclusionsEarly patient contacts seem to ameliorate the shock of practice and prepare students for clinical work. The problems mentioned by the students in this study are mainly related to the socialisation process. The results of this study have to be validated by quantitative research.

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BackgroundA stepwise screening approach for the detection and management of cardiometabolic disease is proposed in various primary care guidelines. The aim of this study was to explore the implementation of a cardiometabolic health check as perceived by the involved caregivers and patients.MethodsQualitative process evaluation of the implementation of a cardiometabolic screening programme in a multidisciplinary primary healthcare centre in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in which 1270 patients had participated. We explored the caregivers’ experiences though focus group discussions and collected patients’ experiences through a written questionnaire containing two open-ended questions. We analyzed our data using a thematic content analysis based on grounded theory principles.ResultsFive general practitioners, three practice nurses and five medical receptionists participated in the focus groups. Additionally we collected experiences of 657 (52% of 1270) participating patients through an open-ended questionnaire.GPs were enthusiastic about offering a health check and preferred systematic screening over case-finding, both in terms of yield and workload. The level of patient participation was high and most participants were enthusiastic about the health check being offered by their GP. Despite their enthusiasm, the GPs realized that they lacked experience in the design and implementation of a structured, large-scale prevention programme. This resulted in suboptimal instruction of the involved practice nurses and medical receptionists. The recruitment strategy was unnecessarily aggressive. There were shortcomings in communicating the outcomes of the health check to the patients and there was no predefined follow-up programme. Based on our findings we developed a checklist that can be used by designers of similar health checks.ConclusionsA number of fundamental issues may arise when GPs organize a systematic screening programme in their practice. These issues are related to the preparation of the involved staff, the importance of integration with everyday clinical practice, the approach of healthy patients and the provision of adequate follow-up programmes. The identified challenges and recommendations can be taken into account during future screening programmes.