Developing a national patient safety plan in Guatemala.

Objective: Patient safety is challenging for health systems around the world, particularly in low-and middleincome countries such as Guatemala. The goal of this report is to summarize a strategic planning process for a national patient safety plan in Guatemala.

Methods: This strategic planning process involved multiple stakeholders, including representatives of the Guatemala Ministry of Health and Social Assistance, medical leadership from across the public health system, and academic experts from Guatemala and the United States of America.

Providers' compliance with the balanced counseling strategy in Guatemala.

The balanced counseling strategy developed in Peru improved family planning care and clients' knowledge of their contraceptive method choice, but few providers adopted it. To expand its use, an algorithm was introduced and training, job aids, and reinforcement were supplied to Ministry of Health providers, most of whom were paraprofessionals, from two areas (40 clinics) in Guatemala. Mystery clients made pretest and post-test visits to these clinics and to providers from a nonequivalent control group (40 clinics).

Improving access to services and interactions with clients in Guatemala: the value of distance learning.

Objective: To develop and test a distance-learning programme to improve the quality and efficiency of family planning services in Guatemala.

Methods: The setting was rural family planning services in Guatemala. The study design was quasi-experimental with one intervention and one control group and with pre- and post-intervention measures.