The quality of antenatal care in an Eastern Cape hospital

M.Cur.Poor quality of midwifery care has been of major concern at St. Elizabeth's antenatal clinic in Eastern Cape. This has been attributed to a number of reasons which one of them is the high maternal mortality rate at St. Elizabeth's hospital. The research question has been, "Do midwives provide quality care to pregnant women at St. Elizabeth's antenatal clinic?" The question has been answered by auditing antenatal records, retrospectively of all the women who have been attending St. Elizabeth's antenatal clinic. Data was collected by means of the Phaneuf audit tool. Twenty antenatal records of women who have been attending antenatal clinic at St. Elizabeth's hospital were selected randomnly. Data analysis was presented in a descriptive way. From the findings, factors that contribute to poor quality care were identified. Beca se of the presence of more negative factors that contribute to poor quality care, the conclusion was that, midwives provide substandard care at St. Elizabeth's antenatal clinic. Recommendations for nursing education, nursing practice and recommendations for further research were outlined. Validity and reliability has been mantained throughout the study. Ethical standards, as stipulated by DENOSA have been considered in the whole chapte