Continuous improvement of the quality of neonatal care based on “Supportive Supervision” principle

Maternal mortality and morbidity depend on many factors, including the quality of birth care and neonatal care services. Quality indicators should be there to measure the quality of any service.

The project aims to test and implement supportive supervision principles at the ten maternity hospitals (within the city of Baku). Helping to Identify and to solve current problems in the quality of medical services, as well as guiding the Ministry of Healthcare to implement supportive supervision in the healthcare system, are also primary goals. 

It focuses on deficiencies, errors, and audits individuals, not the process. As a result of supportive supervision, the staff participates in problem-solving, perceives a supervisor better, does not hesitate to identify problems, and actively gets involved in solving them.

The result of the research shows that supportive supervision has a positive impact on improving the quality of services. Supportive supervision should be applied regularly, not on seasonal occasions. External, as well as internal audits, require the supportive supervision initiative. The results of such inspections should be available to a broader audience to create a competitive environment among institutions. Supportive supervision also helps to identify both biased and objective (non-facility related) factors that negatively affect the quality of services. Discussing objective factors at an intersectoral level, and finding solutions to problems is necessary to improve the quality of services.