A Training Program in Community Hospitals for the Strengthening of Maternities Closer to the Family

Abstract

Introduction

Given the necessity to improve the knowledge and technical skills in gynecology and obstetrics of the health teams of the Family Health Community Hospitals (FHCH) in the Chilean Health Service, a training program was implemented to provide quality and safe care to the newborn, the mother and her family,

Objectives

To develop a training program called Teaching Pavilion, to improve the knowledge and technical skills of medical teams in the field of gynecology and obstetrics, ultrasound, and anesthesia of all FHCH, and thereby contribute to the strengthening of those maternity units that are close to the family and the community.

Methods

The program consisted in the development of the following training activities: Internship, Case Study, Ultrasound Practice, Surgical Practice and Anesthesia Practice in an itinerant way in the five FHCH of the region.

Results

The implementation of the program allowed for the training in gynecology and obstetrics of 100% of the FHCH medical teams in 2008, improving knowledge and technical skills by decreasing obstetric referrals and developing a better care network.

Conclusions

The successful experience we present in this article may be useful to other health services that wish to strengthen their maternities through the implementation of teaching pavilions that provide a higher quality and safe care to the users of public healthcare networks.