[Opinions about postpartum care: expectations of the population]

During the last few years family centred obstetric practice became more widespread in Hungary as well. The opinion of the population, however, is hardly known.

The authors attempted to acquire a better knowledge of the expectations of the various population segments towards postpartum care.

The opinion of 485 person was analyzed with a questionnaire survey. The questions asked about ideal visiting time at the postpartum ward, postpartum organisational structures and appropriate time for discharge.

The average age of the examined sample was 25.2 years; 32.4% were still students, 52.6% were state employees. A very early discharge (within 6-8 hours) was suggested only by 1.2% of the sample. The ratio of those who wanted to leave the hospital at less than 24 hours postpartum was only 7.8% as well. At the same time, only one third (35.9%) of the participants would like to be discharged after 4 days after delivery. 57.7% of the whole sample would prefer discharge between day 2 and 4 after delivery. The opinions about the time of discharge are independent from the size of the family, martial status, sex, education and monthly income of the interviewees. The patients' preferences concerning the appropriate time for discharge following an uncomplicated pregnancy and normal vaginal delivery is mainly influenced by the number of children (chi 2 = 62.260; df = 20; p = 0.000) and previous deliveries (chi 2 = 57.803; df = 20; p = 0.000). Early discharge was most commonly voted for by those who had no children or by those who had many.

When organising postpartum care, the opinion and expectations of the population should be taken into account as well. Almost 62% of the sample had no children at the time of the interview. They will be in need of obstetric care in the future as well. Because of this, their opinion is especially important.