COPE for Maternal Health Services

EngenderHealth's COPE® (Client-Oriented, Provider-Efficient services) is a set of tools intended to assist providers and supervisors with evaluation of the care offered in clinic and hospital settings. Using self-assessment, client interviews, client-flow analysis and facilitated discussion, staff are taught to identify areas needing attention and develop their own solutions and action plans to address the issues. Originally developed for family planning services, healthcare providers from related disciplines requested that the tools be adapted to a wider range of health services.

The COPE® handbook for maternal health services considers ways to meet the clinical needs of pregnant women and new mothers, including antenatal care, routine labour and delivery, emergency obstetric care, and postpartum care. First tested in Africa and subsequently utilised by the Nepal Safer Motherhood Project, the tools detailed in this manual are designed to help motivate staff and mobilise resources to solve a number of problems (like those related to infection prevention and clinical management of complications). Other issues addressed include reducing delays in delivery of emergency obstetric care to clients within the facility, reducing absenteeism by doctors, improving organisation of services, acquiring needed supplies and repairing equipment, and focusing provider attention on the comfort of clients.

This manual was published in 2002 along with a COPE® manual focusing on community issues. Click here for a summary of that manual.

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