Health facility readiness and provider knowledge as correlates of adequate diagnosis and management of pre-eclampsia in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Table 3 Proportion of providers responding correctly to case scenario related to diagnosis and management of severe pre-eclampsia, by provider type, facility type and ownership

Correct responses to case scenario	Midwives			Physicians			All (n = 197)
Correct responses to case scenario	PHCs (n = 66)	Hospitals (n = 56)	p-value	PHCs (n = 24)	Hospitals (n = 51)	p-value	All (n = 197)
Initial assessment
Check blood pressure	87.9	94.6	0.22*	83.3	98.4	0.03	91.9
Monitor fetal heart rate	100	100	> 0.99	100	100	> 0.99	100
Assess urine for protein	42.4	46.4	0.66	54.2	39.2	0.22	44.2
Diagnosis and management of severe pre-eclampsia
Diagnose severe pre-eclampsia	81.8	91.1	0.14	100	100	0.99	91.4
Administer loading dose of MgSO₄^a	31.5	47.1	0.11	33.3	58.8	0.04	43.9
Immediately refer to higher facility^a	38.9	19.6	0.03	8.3	3.9	0.33*	19.4
Administer maintenance doses of MgSO₄^ab	33.3	48.8	0.18	31.8	57.1	0.48	45.5
Administer anti-hypertensive drugs^a	68.5	84.3	0.06	83.3	94.1	0.14*	82.2
Induce labor^b	3.3	9.8	0.37*	18.2	40.8	0.06	20
Monitor MgSO₄ toxicity	0	9.8	0.08*	9.1	18.4	0.27*	10.3
Continue MgSO₄ for 24 h postpartum^b	6.1	7.3	0.61*	22.7	34.7	0.41	22.9
Knowledge score about diagnosis and management of severe pre-eclampsia
Median (IQR)	5 (4 to 6)	5.5 (4 to 7)	< 0.01	5 (4 to 7)	6 (5 to 8)	0.03	5 (4 to 7)

PHCs Primary health centres, IQR Interquartile range, MgSO₄ Magnesium sulfate
*Fisher exact test
^aAmong providers who diagnosed severe pre-eclampsia (n_i: 51 midwives in hospitals and 54 in PHCs; 51 physicians in hospitals and 24 in PHCs);
^bAmong providers who did not refer to a higher level facility (n_i: 41 midwives in hospitals and 33 in PHCs; 49 physicians in hospitals and 22 in PHCs)

ISSN: 1472-6963