Development of strategies to enhance recordkeeping during intrapartum care in Limpopo province: A Delphi technique

Background: South Africa is experiencing increased medico-legal litigations in maternity services arising from poor recordkeeping. To enhance the quality of recordkeeping and reduce the lawsuits, the strategies were developed and validated by maternal healthcare experts.Aim: The study is aimed to develop and validate strategies for recordkeeping during intrapartum care in Limpopo province.Setting: The study was conducted in seven hospitals located in Sekhukhune District, Limpopo province.Methods: The hospitals were purposefully selected to participate in this study. A sequential explanatory mixed-method design was applied. For the quantitative phase, the maternity case records were reviewed for completeness. Statistician assisted in translation of the checklist into statistical package for social science (SPSS) program. The data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics. The qualitative phase, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with midwives and doctors to describe and determine their perceptions and experiences of recordkeeping during intrapartum. A co-coder was engaged in qualitative data analysis. The findings of quantitative and qualitative phases were integrated to develop the strategies for recordkeeping. A two-rounds Delphi technique was employed to validate the strategies by engaging maternal healthcare experts.Results: Ten (10) strategies to enhance recordkeeping were developed and validated by the experts.Conclusion: The proposed strategies were operationalised into interventions with the aim to improve recordkeeping.Contribution: The strategies aim to improve the quality-of-service provision during intrapartum care and reduce or culminate legal claims in Limpopo province.