Level of satisfaction in patients giving birth in Poland/Rzeszów and in the Federal Republic of Germany/Gross-Gerau

Abstract

Aim of the study: The main purpose of the study was to examine opinions on perinatal care expressed by women hospitalized after childbirth in Poland and Germany. Different socio-demographic variables were also analyzed in order to evaluate the quality of perinatal care in two different countries. Materials and methods: The study group comprised of postpartum patients from two facilities: the Clinical Ward of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Frideric Chopin Province Specialist Hospital in Rzeszów, Poland, and the Obstetrics-Gynecology Hospital in Gross-Gerau, Germany. The group of randomly selected women, who were initially invited to participate in the study, included 259 Polish and 230 German females. In order to measure the level of satisfaction with perinatal care, the authors used “The Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale” (originally constructed at the Center for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and adopted in Poland by Poznań University of Medical Sciences) and their own questionnaire. Finally, 200 patients, one hundred from Poland and one hundred from Germany, were enclosed. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistics 8.0 software and a p valued below 0.05 was regarded significant. Results: Generally, perinatal care was assessed as being satisfactory by both Polish (91%) and German (97%) respondents. The study population varied in terms of age, education, place of residence or marital status. Only one socio-demographic variable (education) had a significant impact on the perception of the obtained perinatal care. However, a limited number of patients (25% in Poland and 47% in Germany) participated in the prental and parenting classes. Conclusions: 1. Perinatal care was positively assessed by Polish and German patients of both hospitals. 2. The greatest importance in selecting the location for childbirth was attributed by both Polish and German subjects to such factors as: opinion of their friends, highly qualified personnel, modern medical equipment and instruments on premises. Additionally, Polish respondents found it important that the doctor who had provided care for a given woman during pregnancy was employed at that particular hospital. In turn, German respondents also paid particular attention to the distance between their place of residence and hospital. 3. All study participants, regardless of their nationality, admitted that the hospitals offered to their close relatives the possibility to visit and accompany the patients during childbirth.