Single room maternity care and client satisfaction

Background: Single room maternity cave is the provision of intrapartum and postpartum care in a single room. It promotes a philosophy! of family, centered cave in which one nurse cares for the family consistently throughout the intrapartum and postpartum periods. At B.C. Women's Hospital, a tertiary level obstetric teaching hospital in Vancouver British Columbia, a seven-bed, single room maternity cave unit was developed and opened as a demonstration project. As part of rite evaluation of this unit, client satisfaction was compared between women enrolled in single room maternity cal-e and those in a traditional setting. Method: The study included included 205 women who were admitted to the single room maternity care unit after meeting the low-risk criteria. Their responses oil a satisfaction survey were compared with those of a historical comparison group of 221 women meeting the same eligibility criteria who were identified through chart audits 3 months before the single room maternity care unit was opened. A second concurrent comparison group comprised 104 women who also met eligibility criteria. Results: Study, group women were more satisfied than comparison groups in all areas evaluated including provision of information and support physical environment, nursing care, patient education, assistance with infant feeding, respect for privacy, and preparation for discharge. Conclusions: Single room maternity cave was associated with a significant improvement in client satisfaction because of many factors, including the physical setting itself avoidance of transfers, and improved continuity of nursing care.