Evaluation of Antenatal Referrals from Health Centres to the Maternity and Children's Hospital in Dammam city, Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate antenatal referral rates from Primary Health Care (PHC) centres to the Maternity and Children's Hospital in Dammam and factors affecting it. METHODOLOGY: Four randomly Selected Primary Health Care Centres in Dammam city. A sample of 135 pregnant women referred to the hospital (cases) and 135pregnant women not referred (controls) were randomly selected. A double phase sampling scheme was adopted. Questionnaires regarding the characteristics of the general practitioners (GPs) were distributed to those GPs caring for antenatal patients in the 4 health centres. RESULTS: There was a variation in the referral rates of the five generalpractitioners from 11.5 to 21.2 per 100 antenatal consultation. It was found thatS certain characteristics of the GPs had an important influence on the referral rates. High risk factors in pregnancy were present in some of the controls but they were not referred. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS: There is a variation in the referral rates between the GPs. There is a need to monitor and improve the quality of the antenatal care and the referral process. Better training of the GPs and implementing shared obstetric care is recommended.