Adequacy of vital signs monitoring in post delivery mothers at the Naivasha District Hospital of Nakuru County, Kenya

1,2Kairithia Fredrick, 1Karanja, G. Joseph, 1Eunice Cheserem, 3Kinuthia John, 4Chege Mwangi 5Wamalwa Dalton

Abstract

 

 

Accepted 5^th January, 2015

 

The Millennium Development Goal 5 aims at lowering the maternal mortality by 75% by 2015 from the 1990 baseline statistics [1. However Kenya has not achieved this target and the maternal mortality has increased [2]. The major contributors to this increase are postpartum complications such as Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), sepsis, and complications of hypertensive diseases in pregnancy. About 15% of all pregnancies are likely to complicate [3]. If detected early, maternal mortality may be prevented by managing these complications faster. With adequate monitoring of maternal vital signs, post delivery complications can be detected early.  The study evaluated the monitoring and documentation of postpartum maternal vital signs at Naivasha District Hospital of Nakuru County, Kenya.  This was a cross sectional study where 96 participants were interviewed and their medical records reviewed to assess monitoring and documentation of vital signs after ethical and administrative approval. We analyzed the data using SPSS Version 17. 96 (vaginal delivery 66; Caesarean Section 33) participants were recruited into the study. Their mean age was 25.5years (±6.2). 95.8% had BP taken at least once while only 58.4% had temperature recorded, 34.2% never had pulse rate measure at all and only 17.1 had respiratory rate measured more than once during their hospital stay. The monitoring and documentation of vital signs for post natal mothers at Naivasha District Hospital was sub-optimal. There is need to put more emphasis on monitoring and documentation of maternal vital signs as a means of early detection of post delivery complications.

 

Keywords: Post delivery care, vital signs, Hospital, Kenya

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