Evaluation of the Rede Cegonha: feedback of results for Brazilian maternity hospitals

This paper describes and analyzes the process of providing feedback on the results of the second evaluation cycle of good practices of delivery and birth care in maternity hospitals linked to the Rede Cegonha, a Ministry of Health strategy implemented in 2011 to improve obstetric and neonatal healthcare and management. This is a qualitative study based on the documentary analysis of 27 reports from the states and the Federal District referring to the feedback workshops with 1.641 participants, 40% of whom were professionals and managers of the maternity hospitals evaluated, 25% of state representatives, 20% of municipal health secretariats and 15% of federal representatives. Around 46% of maternity hospitals' action plans in 11 states were received from January to August 2019. The results show the challenge of incorporating the monitoring and evaluation processes in these maternity hospitals' daily lives due to structural issues in institutional culture. This situation interferes with the local systematic analysis of information and the implementation of national evaluation cycles with the swift and continuous feedback of the results since access to secondary national data is non-existent in good delivery care practices.

Delivery care by obstetric nurses in maternity hospitals linked to the Rede Cegonha, Brazil - 2017

This study aimed to assess whether nurses' presence in delivery care in maternity hospitals linked to the Rede Cegonha program promotes access to best obstetric practices during labor and delivery. We conducted an evaluative study in 2017 in all 606 SUS maternity hospitals that joined this strategic policy in all Brazilian states. We collected data from maternity hospital managers and puerperae. The analysis was performed at two levels: hospital with or without a nurse in delivery care; and professionals that attended vaginal delivery, whether doctors or nurses. We used best practices and interventions for vaginal deliveries and cesarean section rates as dependent variables. We included 5.016 subjects for analyses of vaginal deliveries and 9.692 to calculate cesarean section rates. Multiple regressions were adjusted for geographic region, maternity hospital size, and puerperae skin color and parity. Maternity hospitals with nurses in delivery care used more the partograph and less oxytocin, lithotomy, episiotomy, and cesarean section. Deliveries attended by nurses had more frequent use of the partograph and a lower likelihood of lithotomy and episiotomy. The inclusion of nurses in vaginal delivery care has successfully brought women closer to a more physiological and respectful delivery.

Labor and childbirth care in maternities participating in the "Rede Cegonha/Brazil": an evaluation of the degree of implementation of the activities

Using a judgment framework, this article analyzes the degree of implementation of the best practices in labor and childbirth care contained in the guidelines of the Rede Cegonha (RC) across Brazil. The study eligibility criteria were public and mixed hospitals located in a health region with a RC action plan in place in 2015, resulting in a total of 606 facilities distributed across the country. Three different data collection methods were used: face-to-face interviews with managers, health professionals and puerperal women; document analysis; and on-site observation. The framework was built around the five guidelines of the Labor and Childbirth component of the RC. Degree of implantation was rated as follows: adequate; partially adequate and inadequate. The performance of maternity facilities was rated as partially adequate for all guidelines except for hospital environment, which was rated as inadequate. A huge variation in degree of implementation was observed across regions, with the South and Southeast being the best-performing regions in most items. The results reinforce the need for an ongoing evaluation of the actions developed by the RC to inform policy-making and the regulation of labor and childbirth care.