Caring for children in hospitals
Tools and framework for better care
WHO advises and supports countries in reforming their health systems and improving service providers’ skills and changing attitudes. To help professionals and policy-makers improve care for children and adolescents, WHO developed the regional framework “Improving the quality of care for reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health in the WHO European Region”, as well as various assessment tools.
It is important to adopt a human rights-based approach to health. As human rights become better respected, they become more effective in helping governments to strengthen their health systems, deliver health care for all and improve health.
Based on this, WHO developed a checklist that aims to translate children’s rights as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into practical principles and actions that hospitals can apply in daily practice.
Unnecessary hospitalizations and misuse of antibiotics
WHO has supported countries in conducting health system evaluations to measure the extent of unnecessary and unnecessarily prolonged hospitalizations, and to assess antibiotic use and polypharmacy practices among children and pregnant women. These evaluations were carried out in collaboration with the respective health ministries in hospitals across Kyrgyzstan, Romania and Tajikistan. Findings are intended to guide stakeholders in taking action at the national, facility and community levels to enhance quality of care and thereby make progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal health targets. Other countries may wish to carry out similar exercises to help make their health systems safer and more efficient, ultimately respecting and promoting child rights.
Quality improvement project
A project for improving the quality of hospital care to reduce maternal, newborn and child deaths was implemented in 4 countries including 2 in the European Region – Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
A complex quality improvement process was implemented in 2021–2023, tailored to the specific needs identified during the baseline assessment on the quality of maternal, newborn and child health care in the two countries. It included updating clinical guidelines, training in technical areas and quality-improvement methods, supportive supervision, and biannual collaborative improvement meetings between hospitals, health ministries, WHO and key partners.
A research component was conducted by separate national research teams in both countries, with a quantitative (provision of care and experience of care) and a qualitative component.
The quality of hospital care for mothers, newborns and children significantly improved in the hospitals where the project took place, according to the progress assessment undertaken 2 years after the start of the project and to the research findings.
The findings were shared in each country during the biannual quality-improvement workshop for pilot hospitals and the extended national steering group meeting.