The Relationship Between Primary Health Care Services and Pregnancy Diagnosis and Follow-Up

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of family medicine in the detection of pregnancies, the status of pregnant women being registered to family medicine, the time of first contact with the family physician, and the rate of monitoring by family physicians. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out at the pregnant follow-up polyclinic of a university hospital. The pilot study of the study was conducted with 15 participants. Data of 139 participants were analyzed. Results: The median of pregnancy detection week was 5.00 (IQR:4.00-6.00). For the first blood test 23.7% (n=33) of the pregnant women had applied to the family physicians. It was determined that all pregnant women received prenatal care from healthcare workers within the first 14 weeks. The rate of pregnant women who received prenatal care from family medicine at any time of pregnancy was 89.9% (n=125). Conclusion: It is seen that family medicine is not used effectively enough for pregnancy detection. The fact that knowing family medicine by almost all of the individuals, and informing the community will increase the rate and quality of application to family medicine. Improvement of family medicine pregnancy diagnosis and follow-up rates can be ensured by giving the necessary importance to the 15-49 age group follow-up and with the applicability of the referral chain. Keywords: primary care, family practice, pregnancy, pregnancy test