Marion McNabb|Emeka Chukwu|Oluwayemisi Ojo|Navendu Shekhar|Christopher J. Gill|Habeeb Salami|Farouk Jega
Assessment of the Quality of Antenatal Care Services Provided by Health Workers Using a Mobile Phone Decision Support Application in Northern Nigeria: A Pre/Post-Intervention Study
Pathfinder International|Pathfinder International|Boston University
given shortage skilled healthcare providers nigeria frontline community health extension workers chews commonly tasked providing maternal child health services primary health centers 2012 introduced mobile case management decision support application twenty primary health centers northern nigeria conducted pretestposttest study assess whether introduction app effect quality antenatal care services provided lowerlevel cadreusing commcare mobile platform app dynamically guides chews antenatal care protocols collects client data real time thirteen health education audio clips also embedded app improving standardizing client counseling detect changes quality developed evidencebased quality score consisting 25 indicators conducted total 266 client exit interviews analyzed baseline endline data assess changes overall quality score well changes provision key elements antenatal careoverall quality score increased 133 baseline 172 endline p00001 total possible score 25 significant improvements related health counseling technical services provided quality health educationthese study results suggest introduction lowcost mobile case management decision support application spur behavior change improve quality services provided lower level cadre healthcare workers future research employ rigorous experimental design explore potential longerterm effects client health outcomes