Barriers and enablers of quality high-acuity neonatal care in sub-Saharan Africa: protocol for a synthesis of qualitative evidence.

INTRODUCTION: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in sub-Saharan Africa face limited resources and systemic challenges, resulting in poorer quality care, higher infant mortality, and dissatisfaction among both patients and healthcare workers. This review aims to bridge the knowledge gap by identifying and analysing the key barriers and enablers affecting quality care, informing interventions to improve patient outcomes and overall NICU effectiveness in this critical region. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This systematic review will search and gather data from a variety of databases, including JBI Database, Cochrane Database, MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL/EBSCO, EMBASE, PEDro, POPLINE, Proquest, OpenGrey (SIGLE), Google Scholar, Google, APA PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus and HINARI. The review will also include unpublished studies and grey literature from a variety of sources. This review will only include qualitative and mixed-methods studies that explore the barriers and enablers of quality care for high-acuity neonates using qualitative data collection and analysis methods. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research will be used by two independent reviewers to critically appraise the eligible studies. Any disagreements that arise will be resolved through discussion. Qualitative research findings will be pooled using the meta-aggregation approach in QARI software, where possible. Only unequivocal and credible findings will be included in the synthesis. If textual pooling is not possible, the findings will be presented in narrative form. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This systematic review does not require ethical clearance, and the findings will be disseminated to relevant stakeholders to ensure the widest possible outreach and impact. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42023473134.

Communicative health literacy in patients with non-communicable diseases in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Health literacy plays a prominent role in empowering individuals for prevention as well as management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, there is paucity of information on the health literacy of patients with non-communicable diseases in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess communicative health literacy and associated factors in patients with NCDs on follow-up at Jimma Medical Center (JMC), Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 4 May 2020 to 4 July 2020 with 408 randomly selected adult patients, attending outpatient department of JMC in Ethiopia. The final sample size was obtained by using single population proportion formula. All patients with NCDs who were on follow-up at chronic illness clinic, JMC, were used as a source population. All eligible patients with NCDs who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included in this study. A simple random sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. Data were collected through structured interviewer administered questionnaires on the six of nine health literacy domains using Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) containing 30 items, socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, disease-related factors, and health information sources. Multivariable logistic regression was executed to determine the associations. RESULT: Descriptive analysis shows more than half of the respondents in four of the six health literacy domains had high communicative health literacy level (CHLL). The proportion of people with high CHLL across each of the domains was as follows: health care provider support (56.1%), social support for health (53.7%), active engagement with a healthcare provider (56.1%), and navigating healthcare system (53.4%). We found educational status was significantly associated with five of six health literacy domains whereas number of sources was associated with four of six health literacy domains. CONCLUSION: The overall findings of the current study indicate that health literacy levels vary according to socio-demographic and disease characteristics of patients. Thus, healthcare professionals should assess patients' health literacy level and tailor information and support to the health literacy skills and personal context of their patients.

The Magnitude of Diabetes Mellitus in Adult Hypertensive Patients in Northeast Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are the most common comorbid non-communicable chronic diseases that threaten human beings worldwide. Hypertension is associated with an increased risk of diabetes mellitus and vis-a-vis. However, there is limited information on the magnitude of diabetes mellitus in hypertensive patients in sub-Saharan countries. Hence, this study assessed the magnitude of diabetes mellitus and its associated factors among adult hypertensive patients attending a hypertension clinic in Northeast Ethiopia. METHODS: Institution-based cross-sectional study conducted on 407 participants from April to June 2019. The participants were included in the study using systematic random sampling. Data were collected using the WHO STEPwise method. We run descriptive statistics to determine the magnitude of diabetes mellitus in hypertensive patients and logistic regression to identify factors associated with diabetes, and statistically significant associations were declared at a P-value of less than 0.05. RESULTS: The magnitude of diabetes mellitus among hypertensive patients was 29.1%, of whom 24% were newly diagnosed. Respondents with a family history of diabetes mellitus (AOR: 4.6, CI: 2.2, 9.48), increased waist-to-height ratio (AOR: 21.5, CI: 5.62,43.67), increased waist circumference (AOR: 3.2, CI: 1.58, 6.53) and primary school educational status (AOR: 3.2, CI: 1.41, 7.25) were more likely to have diabetes. Similarly, respondents with longer hypertension duration (AOR: 4.09, CI: 1.22, 13.64), past daily smoking history (AOR: 10.46, CI: 1.59,6.8), increased diastolic blood pressure (AOR: 4.15, CI: 1.51, 11.37), and increased waist circumference (AOR: 7.5, CI: 4.47,14.95) were more likely to be diagnosed newly for diabetes. CONCLUSION: Our study indicated around one-third of hypertensive patients had diabetes. Family history of diabetes mellitus, primary educational status and increased waist-to-height ratio and waist circumference were significant predictors of diabetes among hypertensive patients. The finding suggests the need for regular diabetic screening among hypertensive patients.

Relationship between nurses' perception of ethical climates and job satisfaction in Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Oromia region, south west Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: The ethical climate is one aspect of an organization which refers to the shared perceptions of ethically correct behaviors and way of handling ethically deviated behaviors. Increased awareness of the complexity of ethical issues in the health care setting has fueled interest in nursing ethics. However; there is limited information on the relationship between nurses' perception of ethical climate and job satisfaction globally and no study was done on this issue particularly in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the relationship between nurses' perception of ethical climates and job satisfaction in Jimma University Specialized Hospital, southwest Ethiopia, 2016. METHODS: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted on 266 nurses in Jimma University Specialized Hospital from March to April 2016. The study participants were invited by using simple random sampling method. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and were entered into Epidata 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS Version 20.0. Pearson's correlation was used to assess the correlation between each dimension of the hospital ethical climate and job satisfaction of nurses. Variables significant at bivariate analysis (P < 0.25) were considered as a candidate for the multivariable linear regression analysis. All analyses were conducted at the 0.05 significance level. RESULTS: The percentage mean score for ethical climate and job satisfaction were 53.4 and 51.3% respectively. Law and code climate significantly influenced job satisfaction (ß = 1.53, p = 0.000). Caring climate also significantly influenced nurses job satisfaction (ß = 0.99, p = 0.000). The result also showed that an independence climate significantly influenced job satisfaction (ß = 0.62, p = 0.041). On the other hand, rule climate and instrumental climate did not significantly affect job satisfaction (ß = 0.380, p = 0.409 and ß = - 0.208, p = 0.290 respectively). The adjusted R square was 0.601, indicating that 60.1% of the variations in job satisfactions was explained by ethical climate variables. CONCLUSION: The different dimensions of ethical climates have a negative or positive impact on nurses' job satisfaction and maintaining a positive ethical climate is key to increasing nurses' job satisfaction.