Hospital Villa Fundacion
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Hospital Villa Fundacion (HVF) is a municipal hospital within the referral network of our larger, provincial partner hospital in Bani. HVF is a small community hospital that has the capacity for women to give birth there, and serves and estimated population of 20,000. In 2008, HVF had only 24 births at the hospital and we set out in partnership to change that.
In 2009, Infante Sano decided to spread its quality improvement interventions to additional hospitals within the service network of current partner hospitals. We held a competitive process among three hospitals that attend deliveries and refer to Hospital Nuestra Senora de Regla in Bani. HVF was chosen as the initial pilot site and work began in August 2009. The intervention in HVF was unique in that it focused on the principles of humanizing birth by encouraging improved doctor-patient relationships, increasing decision-making powers for women during labor and delivery, exclusive and immediate breastfeeding, and increased social-emotional support for women during labor and delivery. By making the connections to how women are treated during this extremely vulnerable time, we worked to improve the quality of healthcare services offered at HVF, including appropriate referrals to the Bani hospital. Our intervention at HVF was also unique in that the training model incorporated more on-the-job-training component with national experts, which allowed HVF staff to apply their knowledge with expert guidance in real life situations. We also added members from the surrounding community and clinics to the hospital’s quality improvement committee to ensure that patients’ voices were heard. All in all, it was a huge success.
Successes
Prior to Infante Sano’s intervention at HVF, the majority of women were referred to Bani to deliver their babies. These unnecessary referrals lead to overcrowding and the over-medicalization of the birth process. Women who should have had natural & normal births at HVF, their community hospital, were being referred to Bani and often ending up with an unnecessary c-section. After the intervention, staff at Villa Fundacion felt significantly more confident in their clinical abilities to diagnose and deliver babies, and deliveries at HVF have increased significantly. The number of deliveries increased from 2008 (24 births), to over 50 births taking place August to November 2009; double the number from the year prior to intervention in just four months! There has been improvement in staff satisfaction and patient satisfaction. In post-delivery interviews with patients, almost all women have said they would come back to the hospital to deliver again and that they would recommend that their friends and family to the hospital.
Future Plans
Infante Sano intends to support HVF in 2010 with a grant to continue its great work, and ensure that more women have access to a labor & delivery care that is medically sound, humane and empowering.
