Background: The quality of the hospitals of Bangladesh is not up-to the mark and
as a result the maternal and newborn mortality rate is still high in comparison to
the high income countries. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a quality improvement
(QI) model considering the country context which will contribute greatly in
reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in Bangladesh.
Method and material: Documents review series of workshops with different
tiers of researchers, professionals and programme personnel and a national level
consensus meeting were conducted to develop an adapted "Model QI System" and
itsimplementation process applicable for district and sub-district level hospitals of
Bangladesh. The study was conducted during May - October 2012.
Results: An adapted "Model QI System" and its implementation framework,
guidelines and tools for maternal and newborn health services of district and
sub-district level hospitals of Bangladesh were developed by considering the
concept of WHO six building blocks of a health system and PDCA cycle along with
5S-KAIZEN-TQM approach. Taking into account the Bangladesh context the model
included health system support, clinical service delivery, inter-departmental
coordination; and utilization of services and client satisfaction as the key areas for
quality improvement.