Respectful Care is Quality Care

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Catherine Carr, Senior Maternal Health Advisor for Jhpiego and MCHIP, recently wrote a post, Respectful Care is Quality Care, for the Huffington Post’s Global Motherhood blog that describes why the concept of “safe motherhood” isn’t only about clinical interventions but also includes a woman’s “basic human rights, including her autonomy, dignity, feelings, choices, and preferences, including companionship during maternity care.”

From the post:

Unfortunately, there is still a huge gap between the maternal care a pregnant woman should receive and what she actually experiences. International nongovernmental organizations, like Jhpiego and the U.S. government’s flagship Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP), are among those taking the lead in educating health providers on the importance of humanizing care. Frontline health-care workers are being taught what this type of care involves and how best to provide it in their patients. Trainings focus on the partnership between the woman and the health-care worker and include concepts that might seem obvious, such as greeting the patient warmly, draping them for privacy, explaining what they are doing, and allowing them to ask questions, to more complex guidelines on confidentiality, but the principle remains the same: Have respect, empathy and consideration for your patients.

Read the full post here.