Lived experiences of women with maternal near-miss at Kawempe National Referral Hospital

Abstract

Background: An experience of maternal near-miss and its subsequent management is physically and emotionally distressing which raises negative feelings and emotions and poor maternal and fetal outcomes. The emergency associated with maternal near-miss leaves a woman feeling out of control. A woman’s life is at risk but also her fetus or neonate may suffer consequences. Women who go through a maternal near miss event do not often receive due attention. Objective: To explore lived experiences of women with maternal near-miss and available care measures to manage maternal near-miss among women at Kawempe National Referral. Methods: Exploratory descriptive qualitative design, 12 individual in-depth interviews with women who went through a maternal near-miss event were conducted. Women were recruited in the study during their convalescent period just before discharge. Obtained data was transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Women narrated physical, psychological and emotional experiences related to the maternal near-miss event. Physically women experienced gaps in communication and violation of respect and dignity. Psychologically women experienced anxiety due to separation from their baby, social relationships and ongoing grief over losses which included loss of the baby and/or the uterus and other disabilities. Emotionally, women found peace in being able to relate well with relatives, spouses, family and friends. Opportunities related to success stories like being able to recover well. Challenges were associated with delay one and delay two. That is delay in decision to seek care and delay in reaching care. Care measures were categorized as medical and non medical care. Medical care measures included management of complications during emergency, referral and continuity of care. Non-medical care included social support and individual facilitated copying mechanisms. Additionally, women mentioned recommendations to improve care for women who go through a maternal near miss event. Conclusion: Findings suggested changing lived experiences. Not only pessimistic experiences but also what went well alongside the traumatic event was established. Strategies to improve maternal health should focus on improving communication between women and care providers as well as prevention of occurrence of maternal near-miss through health education, timely referral, continuity of care, improvement of access to proper care and proper diagnostics.