Audits of adolescent prenatal care rendered in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Objectiveto evaluate the adequacy of recorded prenatal care provided to adolescents in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.Designa quantitative descriptive design, using checklists to audit 80 prenatal records, based on the assumption that care recorded reflects care rendered.Settingfour clinics and two hospitals providing public prenatal and birth services in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.Participants80 adolescents’ prenatal records were audited.Measurement and findingsrecorded prenatal care was checked according to the expected prenatal activities: history taking, health education and counselling, physical examinations, routine laboratory tests, client evaluations and planning for birth.Key conclusionsdocumentation in the prenatal records was incomplete, especially on aspects of health promotion and social history.Implications for practiceinadequacies in prenatal records could denote poor prenatal care rendered to adolescents, limiting the potential benefits pregnant adolescents and their infants could derive from these services in Bulawayo. In-service education should be offered to the midwives to enhance their knowledge and skills on health assessment, history taking, physical examinations and accurate documentation of all aspects of prenatal care.