Consumer assessment of perceived quality of antenatal care services in a tertiary health care institution in Osun State, Nigeria

Objective: To describe consumer assessment of the perceived-quality of antenatal care services in a tertiary health care institution in Osun State.Material and Methods: In a descriptive cross-sectional study, information was obtained (utilizing a semi-structured questionnaire) from 289 pregnant women randomly selected from the Antenatal Clinic (ANC) of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital. Chi-square statistic test was used to explore associations. Level of significance was p<0.05.Results: Mean age of respondents was 30.93 + 9.109 years, the modal age group was 26-30 years, 6.2% were single while 93.8% were ever-married, 3.5% had no formal education, while 39.1%, 53.3% had secondary and tertiary education respectively. Rate of adolescent pregnancy in this study was 4.2%. About a third each of respondents had parity of one and two respectively. Age, occupation, husband’s payment of booking fees, and previous ANC attendance were all significantly related to place of previous delivery (p<0.05). More than 90% of respondents assessed health personnel’s attitudes positively; however, an assessment of poor quality of care in terms of time spent in clinic (too long/too short) was given by 66.5% of respondents, whilst almost one quarter (22.5%) were not satisfied with the over-all perceived quality of care received. The most frequently mentioned reason for non-satisfaction with quality of care received was wasting of time in the clinic.Conclusion: Although the majority of respondents assessed the overall quality of care received as satisfactory, a major point of dissatisfaction in many respondents is the length of time spent in the ANC. To achieve the MDG of reduction in maternal mortality especially in Nigeria, the quality of ANC care needs to be improved, which will, in turn, lead to increased utilization of ANC services and an ultimate reduction in maternal mortality rate.