Timing of Motherhood and Reproductive Health Care Services in Suburban and Urban Texture Comprehensive Health Centers of Qom City

Abstract

Background: The cost of working staffs covers almost one-third of all the expenses spent in women and motherhood healthcare services. Objectives: The present study aimed at comparing the timing of motherhood and prenatal care healthcare services in comprehensive health centers after the implementation of health system reform plan. Methods: Following an analytical cross-sectional research, 264 occurrences of motherhood health cares were studied, including 88 preconception cares, 88 prenatal cares, 88 postpartum cares, and 92 reproductive health care (356 person-services in total) in two urban texture and two suburban health posts in Qom city, during year 2018. Two chronometers were used to measure the timing of each of the healthcare components and healthcare services from the time the patient arrived to the end of the service. The timings were then enlisted in checklists. Descriptive statistics and independent samples t-test were used to analyze the data. Results: The general timings of preconception care, prenatal care, and postpartum care were 23 ± 6, 35 ± 9, and 20 ± 4, respectively. The timing of reproductive health care was 7.3 ± 3. There was a significance difference between the timing of preconception cares (27.4 ± 4 and 18 ± 3 minutes, P = 0.005) and prenatal cares (28 ± 7 and 39 ± 8 minutes, P = 0.005) in the urban texture and the suburbs of the city. However, there was not a significant difference between these two areas in terms of the timing of postpartum cares (18 ± 3 and 21.5 ± 6 minutes, P = 0.156) and reproductive health care (6.8 ± 2.7 and 7.7 ± 3 minutes, P = 0.139). Conclusions: The timing of preconception care and prenatal care was different in suburban and urban texture of the city. Therefore, it is suggested that the required personnel in healthcare centers should be distributed based on the service timing and workload rather than based on the relevant population of the city so that an optimal management of the working staffs is acquired and both the personnel and patients are satisfied.