Table 1.
Characteristics of primary health centers (PHCs) participating in a CQI initiative according to the total number of CQI cycles completed by each PHC, characteristics of PHCs involved in each CQI cycle and women whose health records were audited as part of each CQI cycle
| Total number of CQI cycles completed* by each PHC | |||||
| Characteristics of PHCs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Number of PHCs n = 50 | 22 | 20 | 2 | 6 | |
| Community governed (%) | 1 (5.0) | 9 (45) | 2 (100) | 6 (100) | |
| Population size over 1000 (%) | 12 (55) | 9 (45) | 1 (50) | 3 (50) | |
| Located in remote community (%) | 15 (68) | 17 (85) | 2 (100) | 4 (67) | |
| State: New South Wales (%) | 0 | 2 (10) | 0 | 4 (67) | |
| Northern Territory | 3 (14) | 11 (55) | 1 (50) | 1 (17) | |
| South Australia | 1 (4.6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Queensland | 14 (64) | 7 (35) | 0 | 0 | |
| Western Australia | 4 (18) | 0 | 1 (50) | 1 (17) | |
| Mean baseline provision | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Screened for cigarette use % | 79 | 65 | 70 | 82 | |
| Cigarette cessation advice % | 61 | 56 | 56 | 16 | |
| Screened for alcohol use % | 71 | 57 | 61 | 59 | |
| Brief alcohol counselling % | 52 | 61 | 32 | 17 | |
| Nutrition counselling % | 43 | 48 | 17 | 40 | |
| Food security counselling % | 3.8 | 7.0 | 1.7 | 0.56 | |
| Physical activity counselling % | 24 | 26 | 1.7 | 6.8 | |
| Folate prescription < 20 weeks % | 34 | 30 | 14 | 4.5 | |
| Longitudinal Characteristics | |||||
| Characteristics of PHCs | Baseline | End of cycle 1 | End of cycle 2 | End of cycle 3 | End of cycle 4 |
| Number of PHCs n = 50 | 50 | 50 | 28 | 8 | 6 |
| Community governed (%) | 18 (36) | 18 (36) | 17 (61) | 8 (100) | 6 (100) |
| Population size over 1000 (%) | 25 (50) | 25 (50) | 13 (46) | 4 (50) | 3 (50) |
| Located in remote community (%) | 38 (76) | 38 (76) | 23 (82) | 6 (75) | 4 (67) |
| State: New South Wales (%) | 6 (12) | 6 (12) | 6 (21) | 4 (50) | 4 (67) |
| Northern Territory | 16 (32) | 16 (32) | 13 (46) | 2 (25) | 1 (17) |
| South Australia | 1 (2.0) | 1 (2.0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Queensland | 21 (42) | 21 (42) | 7 (25) | 0 | 0 |
| Western Australia | 6 (12) | 6 (12) | 2 (7.1) | 2 (25) | 1 (17) |
| Characteristics of women | Baseline | end of cycle 1 | end of cycle 2 | end of cycle 3 | end of cycle 4 |
| Number of women n = 2220 | 829 | 758 | 388 | 135 | 110 |
| Median age at delivery, years (IQR) n = 2214 | 24 (20–30) n = 824 | 25 (20–29) n = 757 | 24 (21–29) n = 388 | 25 (21–30) n = 135 | 24 (20–30) n = 110 |
| Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (%) n = 2074 | 670/790 (85) | 596/695 (86) | 318/346 (92) | 119/133 (89) | 93/110 (85) |
| Median number of pregnancy care visits (IQR) n = 2220 | 7/829 (4–10) | 8/758 (5–11) | 7/388 (4–9) | 7/135 (4–9) | 8/110 (6–10) |
| Attendance <13 weeks (%) n = 2219 | 387/829 (47) | 418/757 (55) | 202/388 (52) | 65/135 (48) | 74/110 (67) |
CQI continuous quality improvement, CI confidence interval, IQR interquartile range *One completed cycle involves auditing health records (baseline), identifying priorities for improvement, developing and implementing strategies to achieve these goals, and a repeated audit to assess improvement (end of cycle 1)