Table 2 The main themes and extracted categories
Theme | Category | Sub-category |
|---|---|---|
1. Fear of disease | Reducing maternal referrals for prenatal and postnatal care | Reduction in the number of prenatal care referrals in health centers |
Reduction in the number of referrals to hospital centers | ||
Reduction in the activity of private offices | ||
The preference of mothers to give birth in safe centers | Tendency to delivery in private centers | |
The increased mothers’ referrals to non-hospital delivery centers | ||
concerns on maternity complications | Neglecting the complications of pregnancy and childbirth | |
Attention to and focus on COVID-19 | ||
Workplace insecurity | Unknown nature of the disease | |
Asymptomatic carriers | ||
shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) | ||
2. Burnout | The increased workload | New roles |
Infection of employees and staff shortages | ||
The reduced family relationships | concern on transmitting the disease to the family | |
Entrusting children to grandparents and staying away from them | ||
lack of motivational factors | Lack of encouraging supports | |
Comparing their working conditions with other staff | ||
Lack of empathy of officials | ||
3.Lessons learned by the COVID-19 Pandemic | Adaptation to new conditions | The increased knowledge about the disease to overcome conditions |
Enhanced team working among staff | ||
Inter team cooperation | ||
The need to strengthen and support maternity health services | Providing consulting services to staff | |
Providing a platform for maternity care at home | ||
Using the capacity of telemedicine for maternity services | ||
The need for incentive processes for maternity care staff | ||
The need for performing rapid screening tests in birth centers |