A systematic approach towards the development of quality indicators for postnatal care after discharge in Flanders, Belgium.

Objective: to develop a set of quality indicators for postnatal care after discharge from the hospital, using a systematic approach.

Design: key elements of qualitative postnatal care were defined by performing a systematic review and the literature was searched for potential indicators (step 1). The potential indicators were evaluated by five criteria (validity, reliability, sensitivity, feasibility and acceptability) and by making use of the 'Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation', the AIRE-instrument (step 2).