As good as anyone: antenatal shared care at an inner Sydney hospital

Abstract

An exploratory survey design was used to assess satisfaction with antenatal careover a two-month period of women giving birth in an inner Sydney teachinghospital. Patients received obstetric services from private obstetricians, midwives, thehospital outpatient clinic, or ?shared care? between general practitioners and theoutpatient clinic or birth centre. Insurance status and demographic information werecollected across all groups. Shared care patients gave reasons why they chose thatmodel of antenatal service.Ten per cent of women in the sample received shared care. Shared care patientswere equally as satisfied as those in other modes of care in all but one factor?promptness of service (in which private obstetricians received higher ratings). Theyalso judged shared care to have the advantages of being convenient, personal, andculturally appropriate. Significantly more patients in the shared care group were bornoverseas and they were less likely to hold private insurance.This paper discusses the results of the current study in the context of theAustralian literature, explores some issues surrounding satisfaction research, andsuggests further research arising from this work.