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MEDIA CENTER New Tools Facilitate Reproductive Health Service Evaluation NEW YORK (2 February 2001) — Inexpensive, user-friendly evaluation tools based on a series of simple checklists and designed for use on portable computers are now available to help maternity, postabortion care, and family planning supervisors improve their services. The new tools, developed by Population Council public health researcher Nancy Sloan and the Pubcomm Group, Inc., facilitate computer-based evaluation, allowing supervisors to easily identify their clinics' strengths and weaknesses. Based on the popular Excel spreadsheet program, the Supervisory Aid and Evaluation Tools are compatible with computers using Windows 95/98, Windows NT, or Windows 2000 operating systems and can be downloaded free from the Council's website (http://www.popcouncil.org/rhfp/palmtops.html). The tools prompt the user through a series of simple yes/no questions, and recorded responses are instantly compiled and analyzed. By indicating the service components that require improvement, the tools help reproductive health supervisors assess provider performance and facility readiness on the spot. This instant feedback can help clinicians and site administrators resolve problems and improve the quality of their services. The tools can be easily modified to suit individual country needs. "The success of reproductive health services relies on effective supervision and program monitoring, yet supervisors frequently lack adequate training about the content of quality of care and how to evaluate the quality of services," Sloan remarked. "In many cases, monitoring has become merely counting numbers—numbers of staff, numbers of supplies, numbers of equipment—rather than evaluating and improving services. Our tools help supervisors compile the numbers and evaluate them." The new evaluation tools use handheld or laptop computers to record observations from site visits directly into an Excel file. Summary worksheets provide feedback on areas in need of improvement. Data collected from different facilities and over time can be aggregated in Excel and analyzed through simple cut-and-paste mechanisms to quickly produce statistics and graphics for efficient program monitoring and evaluation. Data also can be easily transferred to desktop computers and imported into SPSS, SAS, SYSTAT, Stata, and other statistical software for further analysis. The tools have been tested using handheld computers in Honduras and Mexico. Even if they had no previous computer experience, supervisors were able to operate the program after participating in brief introductory training sessions. The handheld computers are small (approximately 5" x 8" x 1"), inexpensive ($800-$1,000), powerful (16-32 MB RAM, color screens), and useful (most contain Word and Excel software from which data can be transferred to a desktop with a Windows 95 operating system). They can be used with a touch screen and have an extended battery life of up to 20 hours. The evaluation tools are available in English; Spanish versions are forthcoming this year. The software was developed by the Population Council's Robert H. Ebert Program on Critical Issues in Reproductive Health and the Pubcomm Group, Inc., with support from the Canadian International Development Agency, the Department for International Development, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the World Bank, and the Population Council, using situation analysis materials developed in collaboration with the American College of Nurse-Midwives, Ipas, and the Population Council.
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