Understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.

<h4>Introduction</h4>Maternal and perinatal deaths occurring in low and middle income countries could be prevented with timely access to maternal and new-born care. In order to increase access to maternal and child health services, a well-functioning referral system that allows for conti...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Lilian Mselle, Nathanael Sirili, Amani Anaeli, Siriel Massawe
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1b1da42c5a444776b9b1270da6f6b270
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:1b1da42c5a444776b9b1270da6f6b270
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1b1da42c5a444776b9b1270da6f6b2702021-12-02T20:17:33ZUnderstanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0255475https://doaj.org/article/1b1da42c5a444776b9b1270da6f6b2702021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255475https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Introduction</h4>Maternal and perinatal deaths occurring in low and middle income countries could be prevented with timely access to maternal and new-born care. In order to increase access to maternal and child health services, a well-functioning referral system that allows for continuity of care across different tiers of healthcare is required. A reliable healthcare system, with adequate numbers of skilled staff, resources and mechanisms, is critical to ensuring that access to care is available when the need arises.<h4>Material and methods</h4>This descriptive, qualitative study design was used to explore barriers to implementing a reliable referral system. Twelve individual qualitative interviews were conducted with health care providers working in rural and semi-urban district hospitals in the Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern zones of Tanzania. Thematic analysis guided analysis of data.<h4>Results</h4>Three (3) main and interconnected themes were abstracted from the data relating to participants' experiences of referring women with obstetric complications to adequate obstetric care. These were: 1. Adhering to a rigid referral protocol; 2. Completing the referral of women to an adequate health facility and 3. Communicating the condition of the woman with obstetric complications between the referring and receiving facilities.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Because of referral regulations, assistant medical officers were unable to make referral decisions even when they felt that a referral was needed. The lack of availability of hospital transport as well as the lack of a reliable feedback mechanism, prohibited effective referrals of patients. The Ministry of Health should revise the referral protocol to allow all clinicians to provide referrals, including assistant medical officers- who make up the majority of clinical staff in rural health care facilities. A mechanism to ensure effective communication between the referral facility and the tertiary care hospital should be instituted for quality and continuity of care. Furthermore, health care facilities should put aside budget for fuelling the ambulance for effective referrals.Lilian MselleNathanael SiriliAmani AnaeliSiriel MassawePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8, p e0255475 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Lilian Mselle Nathanael Sirili Amani Anaeli Siriel Massawe Understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.
description	<h4>Introduction</h4>Maternal and perinatal deaths occurring in low and middle income countries could be prevented with timely access to maternal and new-born care. In order to increase access to maternal and child health services, a well-functioning referral system that allows for continuity of care across different tiers of healthcare is required. A reliable healthcare system, with adequate numbers of skilled staff, resources and mechanisms, is critical to ensuring that access to care is available when the need arises.<h4>Material and methods</h4>This descriptive, qualitative study design was used to explore barriers to implementing a reliable referral system. Twelve individual qualitative interviews were conducted with health care providers working in rural and semi-urban district hospitals in the Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern zones of Tanzania. Thematic analysis guided analysis of data.<h4>Results</h4>Three (3) main and interconnected themes were abstracted from the data relating to participants' experiences of referring women with obstetric complications to adequate obstetric care. These were: 1. Adhering to a rigid referral protocol; 2. Completing the referral of women to an adequate health facility and 3. Communicating the condition of the woman with obstetric complications between the referring and receiving facilities.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Because of referral regulations, assistant medical officers were unable to make referral decisions even when they felt that a referral was needed. The lack of availability of hospital transport as well as the lack of a reliable feedback mechanism, prohibited effective referrals of patients. The Ministry of Health should revise the referral protocol to allow all clinicians to provide referrals, including assistant medical officers- who make up the majority of clinical staff in rural health care facilities. A mechanism to ensure effective communication between the referral facility and the tertiary care hospital should be instituted for quality and continuity of care. Furthermore, health care facilities should put aside budget for fuelling the ambulance for effective referrals.
format	article
author	Lilian Mselle Nathanael Sirili Amani Anaeli Siriel Massawe
author_facet	Lilian Mselle Nathanael Sirili Amani Anaeli Siriel Massawe
author_sort	Lilian Mselle
title	Understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.
title_short	Understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.
title_full	Understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.
title_fullStr	Understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.
title_full_unstemmed	Understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.
title_sort	understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in tanzania: experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/1b1da42c5a444776b9b1270da6f6b270
work_keys_str_mv	AT lilianmselle understandingbarrierstoimplementingreferralproceduresintheruralandsemiurbandistricthospitalsintanzaniaexperiencesofhealthcareprovidersworkinginmaternityunits AT nathanaelsirili understandingbarrierstoimplementingreferralproceduresintheruralandsemiurbandistricthospitalsintanzaniaexperiencesofhealthcareprovidersworkinginmaternityunits AT amanianaeli understandingbarrierstoimplementingreferralproceduresintheruralandsemiurbandistricthospitalsintanzaniaexperiencesofhealthcareprovidersworkinginmaternityunits AT sirielmassawe understandingbarrierstoimplementingreferralproceduresintheruralandsemiurbandistricthospitalsintanzaniaexperiencesofhealthcareprovidersworkinginmaternityunits
_version_	1718374331801665536

Understanding barriers to implementing referral procedures in the rural and semi-urban district hospitals in Tanzania: Experiences of healthcare providers working in maternity units.

Ejemplares similares