Mrs. Obi's new acceptors: a case for analyzing service summaries
Family planning manager 1(2 Suppl): 1-4
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 1060-9172 PMID: 12318346 Document Number: 341773
Management Sciences for Health has published a case study on analyzing summaries of family planning (FP) services, case discussion questions, and a case analysis for training and group discussion for FP managers in developing countries. The case study revolves around how the manager of a women and children's health clinic examines new acceptor data. She submits complete and legible monthly reports to her supervisor on a timely basis. The manager thought the demand for was rising, but a graph prepared by a data analyst showed that the numbers of new acceptors had been falling instead. The manager sees simple graphs as a good way to monitor clinic performance and discusses with her supervisor and the analyst possible reasons for the fall in demand, efforts to reverse this trend, and how to make and use graphs for other clinic data. The manager asks her supervisor to conduct a staff-training session on making and using graphs during the next visit. The case questions ask participants how the manager can learn whether the clinic is drawing more new acceptors of FP each month and what the clinic can do to attract them; how she can determine whether new acceptors are offered a variety of contraceptives and, if not, what she can do to assure that new acceptors indeed have the opportunity to select from a variety of methods; from what sources do new acceptors learn about the FP services available at the clinic; and what can be done to more effectively spread the word about these services. Pie charts of the monthly mix of methods chosen by new acceptors would help the manager determine that most popular methods and whether staff are properly counseling clients. A bar chart would help her learn how new acceptors hear of the FP services.