Antenatal Care Services Part I: Do Health Facilities in Bangkok Provide ANC Services According to the Guideline?

Abstract

This research aimed to explore the current guidelines and real practices of antenatal care (ANC) services of health facilities in Bangkok according to their guidelines. The study used mixed methods which included quantitative method (self-administered questionnaire survey sent to 294 health facilities) and qualitative methods (document review, in-depth and group interviews of 19 health professionals in 6 ANC units). Findings from the responding questionnaires of the 153 health facilities (response rate around 52%) and the in-depth interview of health professionals indicated that both public and private, including primary, secondary, and tertiary level of health facilities provided ANC services around 4-20 times per months. There was at least 1 nurse routinely working in each ANC unit. There were1-92 pregnant women attended each ANC unit per day. Currently, there is no single standard ANC guideline for all health facilities. Each of them develops its own guideline consisting of three main services: antenatal screening, disease treatment, and health education, based on recommendations of Department of Health (DOH), and the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RTCOG). Antenatal screening has been delivered by all health facilities almost completely while health education was performed incompletely and has rooms for improvement. Primary health facilities have limited capacities to provide ANC services.