Health professionals' practice to care cytotoxic drug handling and associated factors: The case of university of gondar specialized hospital.

BACKGROUND: Health care professionals are potential to be in contact with cytotoxic drugs during their daily work activ-ities. The study aimed to assess the practice of health professionals to care for cytotoxic drugs and associated factors in the University of Gondar Specialized Hospital. METHODS: Cross-sectional study design was employed. EPI Info 7 was used for data entry and then exported into SPSS 20 for statistical analysis. Frequencies and mean with standard deviation were computed. Logistic regression had been performed to find out associated factors. Crude' and adjusted Odds' ratio with 95% uncertainty interval was done. Variables with a p < 0.05 were declared as significant factors for practice of cytotoxic drug handling. RESULTS: The study used four-hundred and twelve health professionals took part in the study with 97.4% response rate. The mean age of study participants was 29.9 years ranging from 20-60 years and twenty (53.4%) participants were males. One hundred and fifty-five (37.6%) health professionals had good cytotoxic drug handling practice. Attending an average of 4-9 patients per day (AOR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.05, 4.22), Medium work stress (AOR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.04, 3.90), availability of cytotoxic drug handling manual (AOR = 2.51: 95% CI: 1.22, 5.12), and good knowledge (AOR = 4.09, 95% CI: 2.35, 7.11) were significantly associated with cytotoxic drug handling practice. CONCLUSION: The practice of cytotoxic drug handling care was low. It demands the engagement of the health sector to avert such inadequate practice and has to focus on delivering knowledge and logistics for the practice of cytotoxic drug handling.

Work-related stress and associated factors among garment workers in Bole Lemi Industrial Park of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a multi-center institution-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Work-related stress (WRS) is a growing problem around the world that affects the health and well-being of employees. However, evidence of work-related stress in Ethiopia, particularly among garment industry employees, is scarce. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of work-related stress among garment workers in the Bole Lemi industrial park in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: A multi-center institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 01 to March 31, 2021. A total of 605 study participants were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. A pre-tested, interviewer-administered standardized questionnaire was used to collect data. The logistic regression model was employed to identify determinant factors for work-related stress, and statistical significance was declared at a p-value < 0.05. RESULTS: The magnitude of work-related stress in garment workers was 44.1% (95% CI: 40.0, 48.0). Being within the age group of 25 - 34 years (AOR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.90) and receiving induction training (AOR = 0.35, CI: 0.20, 0.62) were protective factors with stress. Whereas lack of family support (AOR = 2.72, CI: 1.60, 4.64), lack of job satisfaction (AOR = 4.26, CI: 2.77, 6.57), and khat chewing (AOR = 3.14, CI: 1.35, 7.32) were positively associated with work-related stress. CONCLUSION: Work-related stress is prevalent among garment workers in the study setting. Being between the ages of 25-34 years and receiving induction training were protective factors against stress, while a lack of family support, a lack of job satisfaction, and khat chewing practices were positively associated with work-related stress. Therefore, improving family support and job satisfaction, providing induction training during employment, and providing psychological support for substance users to bring about changes are mandatory in Bole Lemi Industrial Park, Ethiopia.

Health professionals' attitude and associated factors toward cytotoxic drug handling in University of Gondar specialized hospital: Institution-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that cytotoxic drugs are dangerous to health care workers. Health care professionals' attitude to cytotoxic drugs is vital to apply safety protocols in the prevention of cytotoxicity. The current study aimed to assess health professionals' desirable attitude and associated factors toward cytotoxic drugs handling in the University of Gondar Specialized Hospital. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 412 health professionals from June to August 2019. Simple random sampling was used to select participants and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Epi Info and SPSS 20 were used for data entry and analysis, respectively. Variables with a p value < 0.05 were declared as determinants. RESULTS: The number of health professionals included was approximately 412. The mean age of participants was 29.9 ± 5.4 years. The proportion of participants with desirable attitude toward cytotoxic drugs handling was 224 (54.4%) (95% confidence interval: 51.95-56.85). Male (adjusted odds ratio = 1.69, 95% confidence interval:[1.08-2.65]), work experience of 5-8 years (adjusted odds ratio = 1.92, 95% confidence interval: [1.10-3.34]), weekly working hours of 44-55 (adjusted odds ratio = 2.25, 95% confidence interval: [1.02-4.96]), medium work stress (adjusted odds ratio = 1.67, 95% confidence interval: [1.01-2.69]), and good practice of cytotoxic drug handling (adjusted odds ratio = 1.67, 95% confidence interval: [1.04-2.67]) were significantly associated with the attitude of health professionals. CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of health care workers did not have desirable attitude to handle cytotoxic drugs. Thus, strategies are suggested to improve the positive attitude of health professionals to cytotoxic drug handling. Female health professionals, those who had work experience of less than 2 years and those with higher work stress demand special attention.

Excessive daytime sleepiness and its predictors among medical and health science students of University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia: institution-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a condition of sleepiness when a person would not be expected to sleep. University students are prone to EDS due to the competitive learning environment and fragmented night sleep. No study was conducted in Ethiopia on EDS. Therefore, this study aimed to determine EDS and its predictors among University of Gondar (UoG) Medical and Health Science students. METHODS: Institution-based cross-sectional study was carried out on 383 Medical and Health Science students of UoG who were recruited using a computer-generated simple random sampling technique. We used a validated Epworth daytime sleepiness tool to collect data. Epi-Info™ 7 and Stata 14 were used for data entry and analysis, respectively. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were performed to find out predictors. Odds ratio with 95% uncertainty interval were computed. In the final model, a variable with a p < 0.05 was declared as a predictor of EDS. RESULTS: Three hundred and eighty-three students completed the questionnaire. Males were 69.97% and the mean age of participants was 20.79 (±1.83) years. In the current study, the prevalence of EDS was 31.07% (95% UI: 26.62-35.91). The odds of getting EDS was 1.83 (AOR = 1.83, 95% UI: 1.14-2.96) and 1.84 (AOR = 1.84, 95% UI: 1.13-3.00) higher among students who reported night sleep behaviour disorders and depression, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that EDS is high and predicted by depression and night sleep behaviour disorders. These findings suggest the need to set preventive strategies such as counselling of students to reduce depression and night sleep behaviour disorders. Further studies particularly qualitative studies are required to find out more factors affecting EDS.

The burden of unintentional drowning: global, regional and national estimates of mortality from the Global Burden of Disease 2017 Study.

BACKGROUND: Drowning is a leading cause of injury-related mortality globally. Unintentional drowning (International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 10 codes W65-74 and ICD9 E910) is one of the 30 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive causes of injury-related mortality in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. This study's objective is to describe unintentional drowning using GBD estimates from 1990 to 2017. METHODS: Unintentional drowning from GBD 2017 was estimated for cause-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs), age, sex, country, region, Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile, and trends from 1990 to 2017. GBD 2017 used standard GBD methods for estimating mortality from drowning. RESULTS: Globally, unintentional drowning mortality decreased by 44.5% between 1990 and 2017, from 531 956 (uncertainty interval (UI): 484 107 to 572 854) to 295 210 (284 493 to 306 187) deaths. Global age-standardised mortality rates decreased 57.4%, from 9.3 (8.5 to 10.0) in 1990 to 4.0 (3.8 to 4.1) per 100 000 per annum in 2017. Unintentional drowning-associated mortality was generally higher in children, males and in low-SDI to middle-SDI countries. China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh accounted for 51.2% of all drowning deaths in 2017. Oceania was the region with the highest rate of age-standardised YLLs in 2017, with 45 434 (40 850 to 50 539) YLLs per 100 000 across both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: There has been a decline in global drowning rates. This study shows that the decline was not consistent across countries. The results reinforce the need for continued and improved policy, prevention and research efforts, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.

Acute respiratory infection and its associated factors among children under-five years attending pediatrics ward at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia: institution-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Acute respiratory infection is manifested by cough accompanied by short rapid breathing which may be associated with death especially when there are other co-morbidities. From an estimated 5.4 million children under -five years that died in 2017-roughly half of those deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and acute respiratory infection contributed to the highest number of deaths. The current study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of, and risk factors associated with, acute respiratory infection hospitalization in under-five years children hospitalized at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. METHOD: An institution-based cross-sectional study was carried out from May 01/2019 to July 10/2019. After the selection of participants using simple random sampling, face to face interview was performed using a semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire. Data were also extracted from medical registration charts. We used EPI Info 7 for data entry and exported into SPSS 21 for analysis. Results were presented by simple frequency, percentage and mean for descriptive variables. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to test the association of covariates and outcome variable. Variables with a p < 0.2 during the bivariable binary logistic regression analysis were included in the multivariable logistic regression analysis. Variables with p < 0.05 were considered as significantly associated with acute respiratory infection. This study is reported following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guideline. RESULTS: Four hundred and twenty-two under-five years' children attending the Pediatrics ward were included in this study. The prevalence of acute respiratory infection among under-five years' children in this study was 27.3%. Children aged below 12 months (AOR:3.39, 95% CI: 1.19, 9.65), maternal age of 16 to 27 years (AOR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.03, 3.70), maternal age of 28 to 33 years (AOR: 2.73, 95% CI: 1.40, 5.34), lack of maternal awareness of handwashing (AOR: 2.79, 95% CI: 1.15, 6.76), rural residence (AOR:2.27, 95% CI: 1.18, 4.39), and lack of meningitis (AOR: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.55), were significantly associated with acute respiratory infection. CONCLUSION: Acute respiratory infection was common among children under-five years. Child and maternal age, residence and maternal hand hygiene information were significant factors identified to be associated with an acute respiratory infection.

Maternal and partner's level of satisfaction on the delivery room service in University of Gondar Referral Hospital, northwest, Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Asking patients/clients what they perceive about the care and treatment they have received is one of the important steps towards improving the quality of health care. In the scientific world, a number of efforts have been tried to understand about what laboring mothers perceive about the care provided. However, little is known about the birth experiences of partners in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the maternal and partner's level of satisfaction on the delivery room service in the study area. METHODS: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2018 to January 2019 in University of Gondar referral hospital. The birth satisfaction scale is used for the mother, and it was adapted to the partners' perspective. Paired-samples t tests were used for comparing mothers and partners for the birth satisfaction scales global and thematic scores. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify predicting factors for mothers' and partners satisfaction. RESULTS: The overall satisfaction of mothers in this study was 47.6%. Whereas, 41.2% of partners were satisfied by delivery room services. There were mean difference between mothers and partners' birth satisfaction scale (p = 0.02). Maternal satisfaction scale was affected by age [OR = 0.36, 95%CI (0.18, 0.73)], perception [OR = 0.02, 95%CI (0.001,0.09)], waiting time [OR = 0.11, 95%CI (0.001, 0.09)],visiting mode [OR = 0.01, 95%CI (0.001,0.08)], pregnancy status [OR = 0.04, 95%CI (0.01,0.33)] and fatal outcome [OR = 0.001, 95%CI (0.001,0.018)] .whereas, partners satisfaction was associated with age [OR = 0.16,95%CI (0.05 0.49)], occupational status [OR = 0.02, 95%CI (0.001, 0.24), amount of money to pay for service [OR = 2.87, 95%CI (1.07, 7.71), visiting mode of his wife [OR = 0.08, 95%CI (0.01, 0.35)], waiting time [OR = 0.12, 95%CI (0.04, 0.33)], privacy [OR = 10.61, 95%CI (3.00, 37.52)], mode of delivery of his wife [OR = 7.69, 95%CI (3.00, 19.69)]. CONCLUSION: This finding would alert the health care system to design a client-friendly approach. It will provide insight to hospital administrators and providers in formulating a policy that would enhance the support of partners during labour and delivery process.

Knowledge and associated factors towards cytotoxic drug handling among University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital health professionals, institutional-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Currently, cancer is among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. Exposure to CDs may occur during drug preparation and mixing, during drug administration, during transport, and cleaning spills and waste disposal. Healthcare workers who prepare or administer antineoplastic drugs, or who work in areas where these drugs are used, can be exposed to these agents. This also affects the public around the exposed area if appropriate disposal system is not known. Several studies reported increased risks of leukemia and breast cancer among nurses handling CDs and not following safety guidelines. Because of the absence of studies in Ethiopia, the current study was conducted to determine the knowledge level of cytotoxic drug handling and associated factors among health professionals in the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. METHODS: The institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted from June to August 2019. Epi info 7.1 was used for data entry and then exported into SPSS version 20 for computing, recording, and statistical analysis. Logistic regression was used to explain the relationship with independent variables. RESULTS: Four hundred and twelve health professionals participated in the study with 53.4% males. The participants' mean age was 29.9 (± 5.43) years ranging from 20-60. Two hundred and twenty-three (54.1%) health professionals heard about cytotoxic drugs, and 52.7% (95% UI 47.8-57.8%) had good knowledge of cytotoxic drug handling. Being male sex (AOR = 1.84, 95% CI (1.13-3.00)), age of 29-31 (AOR = 1.99, 95% CI (1.03-3.84)), hearing information about cytotoxic drug handling (AOR = 2.53, 95% CI (1.43-4.47)), ever attended training on cytotoxic drug handling (AOR = 3.15, 95% CI (1.13-8.79)), ever taking courses related to cytotoxic drugs (AOR = 2.03, 95% CI (1.15-3.59)), and good practice (AOR = 3.24, 95% CI (1.95-5.37)) were significantly associated with knowledge towards cytotoxic drug handling. It is therefore imperative to train health professionals and to incorporate CDs handling related course contents while revising curricula to raise the knowledge of health professionals about proper cytotoxic drug handling. CONCLUSION: Above half of the study participants scored higher than the median of the cytotoxic drug handling knowledge questions. Sex, age, information about cytotoxic drug handling, training, taking courses related to cytotoxic drugs, and good practice were significantly associated with knowledge towards cytotoxic drugs handling.

Acute respiratory symptoms and its associated factors among mothers who have under five-years-old children in northwest, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Poor air quality of the household is likely to be the largest public health concern in resource-constrained countries. Exposure to household air pollution, poor working environment, and fuel type used at household level have been associated with respiratory symptoms. This study aimed to assess acute respiratory symptoms and its associated factors among mothers who have under five-years-old children in Gondar city, northwest Ethiopia. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was carried out from February 15, 2019 to June 20, 2019. Study participants were selected using simple random sampling, and data were collected via face-to-face interviews. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to test the association of explanatory and outcome variables. Variables with p < 0.05 were considered as significantly associated with the outcome variable. RESULTS: The prevalence of respiratory symptoms among mothers of under-five years-old children in this study was 46.1%. Education (vocational training compared to cannot read and write) (adjusted odd ratio (AOR) = 0.26 at 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.08-0.82), working in dusty environment (AOR = 2.90 at 95% CI: 1.39-6.08), wood fire use (AOR = 0.37 at 95% CI: 0.16-0.85), living in mud- and wood-walled houses (AOR = 0.53 at CI: 0.32-0.89), recent house painting (AOR = 1.95 at 95% CI: 1.03-3.69), new carpet (AOR = 2.02 at 95% CI: 1.08-3.77), pesticide use (AOR = 1.71 at 95% CI: 1.03-2.84), damp stain (AOR = 2.45 at 95% CI: 1.04-5.75), spending longer time in house for 6 to 11 h (AOR = 2.59 at 95% CI: 1.53-4.37) and 11 to 15 h (AOR = 3.47 at 95% CI: 1.87-6.43), and living less than 100 m from unpaved roads/streets (AOR = 4.35 at 95% CI: 2.64-7.18) were significantly associated with respiratory symptoms among mothers of under-five years-old children. CONCLUSION: Respiratory symptoms were common among mothers who have under five-years-old children. Air quality improvement, fuel selection, and residential planning will help to reduce respiratory symptoms.

Effects of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) education on childhood intestinal parasitic infections in rural Dembiya, northwest Ethiopia: an uncontrolled before-and-after intervention study.

BACKGROUND: Soil-transmitted helminthes (STH) infections are among the most common infections worldwide and affect the most deprived communities. Adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) prevents environmental contamination, thereby preventing transmission of STH. Cognizant of this, WASH education was implemented in rural Dembiya to reduce intestinal parasitic infections. This study was, therefore, conducted to assess the impacts of the intervention on households' WASH conditions and prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections. METHOD: An uncontrolled before-and-after intervention study was used. Cross-sectional studies were done before and after the intervention. Two hundred twenty-five and 302 under five children were recruited randomly at the baseline and endline, respectively. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and observational checklists. Direct stool examination and Kato-Katz methods were used to identify parasites in the stool. We used percent point change and prevalence ratio (PR) to see the effects of the intervention on WASH conditions and prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections respectively. Pearson chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were used to test for statistically significant percentage point changes of WASH conditions. The effect of the intervention on intestinal parasitic infections was statistically tested on the basis of PR with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: The baseline prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was 25.8%, and the endline prevalence was 23.8%. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was not significantly decreased at the endline compared with the baseline [PR = 0.92, 95% CI = (0.62, 1.38)]. Ascaris Lumbricoides was the most prevalent parasitic infection both at the baseline and endline. The proportion of children who had good hygienic condition increased from 1.3% at the baseline to 34.4% at the end line (p <  0.05). The percentage of mothers/care givers who washed hands at different pick times was significantly increased from 24.4% at the baseline to 68.2% at the endline (p <  0.001). The proportion of households who practiced home-based water treatment was significantly increased from 7.6% at the baseline to 47% at the endline (p <  0.001). The proportion of households who used sanitary latrine was increased from 32% at the baseline to 49% at the endline (p <  0.05). CONCLUSION: This before-and-after intervention study found that households' WASH performance was significantly improved at the endline compared with the baseline. The endline prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was slightly lower than the baseline prevalence; however, the reduction was not statistically significant. The local health office needs to strengthen the WASH education program, mobilize the community to construct WASH facilities, and support the community to sustain households' WASH performance.