Factors associated with antepartum pilgrimage at a reference maternity hospital in Ceará.
Annita de Lima Mesquita, Hillary Bastos Vasconcelos Rodrigues, Uly Reis Ferreira and 5 others
PMID 38634686WHAT IT FOUND
Over a third of postpartum women searched multiple facilities for delivery.
Not knowing the assigned maternity hospital and not living close to it were the key factors driving this antepartum pilgrimage, highlighting gaps in prenatal care coordination.
Key findings
0134.3% of the women sought more than one health service to deliver their baby.
02Not knowing the reference maternity hospital and not living close to it remained significant predictors of pilgrimage in the adjusted analysis.
03The adjusted analysis showed a 16% greater chance of pilgrimage for women who did not know their reference maternity hospital or did not live close to it.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study relied on self-declaration and medical records, introducing potential memory bias. Data collection occurred during admission, when postpartum women were focused on their newborns, leading to interview interruptions. The study was conducted in a single reference maternity hospital in Fortaleza, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other regions or healthcare systems. The cross-sectional design prevents establishing causality between the identified factors and the pilgrimage outcome.
Declared interests
The study was approved by the Maternidade Escola Assis Chateaubriand Research Ethics Committee. Funding and conflicts of interest are not explicitly detailed in the provided text beyond the publication type 'Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't'.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that the frequency of prenatal appointments or the presence of a companion during care protects against antepartum pilgrimage. The study found no significant association between these factors and pilgrimage; the critical issues were knowledge of the assigned hospital and physical proximity to it.