Assessment of prescribing errors reported by community pharmacy professionals.

BACKGROUND: Medication errors have serious consequences for patients' morbidity and mortality. The involvement of pharmacy professionals in the prescribing and dispensing procedure allowed the detection of a range of drug-related problems in addition to identification by prescribers. They are often the first point of contact in the healthcare system in identifying prescribing errors and intervening in these errors by dealing with the prescribers and the patients. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess prescribing errors reported by community pharmacy professionals in Gondar Town, North West Ethiopia. METHODS: A self-administered cross-sectional survey was employed from February 29 to June 23, 2020, to collect data on prescribing errors reported by community pharmacy professionals. All community pharmacy professionals found in Gondar town were included. Community pharmacy professionals who were ill at the time of study and who had less than 6 months of work experience were excluded. RESULTS: Seventy-four pharmacy professionals participated in the study with a response rate of 93.6%. The overall prevalence of prescribing errors was 75.1% (95% CI 71.08-78.70). Of these errors, drug selection was the most common (82.4%), followed by errors of commission (79.7%) and errors of omission (78.4%). Antibiotics (63.5%) were commonly involved in prescribing errors, followed by analgesics (44.5%) and antipsychotics (39.5%). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study revealed a high prevalence of prescribing errors in Gondar, Ethiopia. Drug selection was the most prescribed error, followed by errors of commission. Stakeholders should design interventions such as training, integrating prescribers with clinical pharmacists and supervising interns by seniors. Large-scale studies that include potential factors of prescribing problems are recommended for future researchers.

Knowledge of Antimicrobial Resistance and Associated Factors Among Health Professionals at the University of Gondar Specialized Hospital: Institution-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is one of the many health challenges worldwide, particularly in resource-limited countries like Ethiopia. Increasing knowledge of health professionals can reduce the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance. In this study, we determined the antimicrobial resistance knowledge and examined the associated factors among the University of Gondar Hospital health professionals. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional survey was carried out. The samples were randomly recruited. Statistical analysis was performed by using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 after entering the data using Epidemiological information (Epi-Info). To identify associated factors, the authors executed binary logistic regression and multivariate analysis wherein the statistical significance was decided at p < 0.05. Results: Four hundred and twelve health professionals with ages ranging from 20-60 years and mean age of 29.9 years took part in the study. Fifty-three-point-four percent of participants were males. The majority of the total respondents (84.7%, 95% CI: 80.08-88.30) had good knowledge of antimicrobial resistance. It was found that being male (AOR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.10, 3.52), a work experience of 6-10 years (AOR = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.28, 4.68), having 30-38working hours per week (AOR = 3.93, 95% CI: 1.38, 5.11), and antibiotic intake (AOR = 3.71, 95% CI: 1.75, 7.87) were significant factors of antimicrobial resistance knowledge. Conclusion: In the current study, about 84.5% of health professionals had good knowledge of antimicrobial resistance. Reducing working hours per week and increasing the experience of workers are recommended to increase the knowledge on AMR.

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.

Assessment of Community Pharmacy Professionals' Attitude and Perception Towards Ethical Issues in Amhara Region, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Survey 2020.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to assess the attitude and perception of community pharmacy professionals' towards ethical issues. METHODS: We have undertaken a cross-sectional study among community pharmacy professionals in three selected towns (Gondar, Bahir Dar, and Debra Markos) of Amhara region in Ethiopia from February to March 2020. All community pharmacy professionals who were giving services during the data collection period were the study population. We used a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire developed from a review of previous study. Epi-info 7.1 was used for data entry, and SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Logistic regression was done, and a variable with a p-value < 0.05 with 95% confidence interval was considered to be associated with outcome variable. RESULTS: A total of 305 community pharmacy professionals participated in the study with a response rate of 95.3%. About 252 (82.6%) of respondents received education regarding professional ethics. Majority (89.8%) of the participants had ever accessed ethical information at their work site. Only 145 (47.5%) participants had ever recorded ethical issues in their working site. The most common reasons that obstruct to explain ethical issues to customers were shortage of time (85.9%), unavailability of reliable resources (40.0%), and poor ethical knowledge (37.7%). The reporting rate of respondents is less than 50% for most ethical scenarios. Sex, age, educational status, work experience, number of customers per day, working site, information about ethics, and training about ethics were observed to have a significant association with attitude and perception of community pharmacy professionals towards ethical issues. CONCLUSION: Community pharmacy professionals had poor attitude and perception towards ethical issues. Interventions should be devised to uphold ethical awareness of community pharmacy professionals. A large-scale study is also recommended.

Willingness to Pay for Childhood Malaria Vaccine Among Caregivers of Under-Five Children in Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Malaria, a protozoan disease caused by the genus Plasmodium, is responsible for serious illnesses and death across the world. RTS, S/AS01 (Mosquirix™) is a recombinant protein-based malaria vaccine valuable for the prevention and control of the disease. However, studies done so far on the willingness to pay (WTP) malaria vaccine have been inadequate to inform policy-makers. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the WTP for childhood malaria vaccine and associated factors among caregivers of under-five children from February to April 2019 in West Dembia district. A multistage stratified systematic sampling technique was used, and the contingent valuation method was used to estimate caregivers' willingness to pay for the vaccine. AOR with 95% CI and less than 0.05 p-values were used to declare factors associated with WTP. RESULTS: Overall, 60.6% (95% CI: 56.60, 64.40%) of caregivers of under-five children were WTP for the childhood malaria vaccine at a price of US$ 23.11 per full doses. Urban residence (AOR=1.78, 95% CI: 1.04, 3.04), educational status (AOR=3.27; 95% CI: 1.07, 9.94) and vaccination experience for children (AOR= 2.12; 95% CI: 1.29, 3.48) were positively associated with the WTP. WTP for the vaccine was higher among rich households (AOR=3.15; 95% CI: 1.90, 5.22), caregivers who had the previous history of malaria attack (AOR=2.62; 95% CI: 1.68, 4.08), households with fewer members (AOR=1.59; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.40), and families more knowledgeable about malaria prevention and control (AOR=3.56; 95% CI: 1.83, 6.93) compared with their counterparts. CONCLUSION: The majority of the participants were WTP for the childhood malaria vaccine. A significant rise in willingness to purchase was observed at price below the profile price. Thus, it is of great value to policy-makers to understand the price sensitivity before setting the price of the vaccine.

Women's knowledge, preferences, and practices of modern contraceptive methods in Woreta, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Inadequate family planning services are problematic in Ethiopia. Understanding determinants in contraceptive methods use may be instructive in the design of interventions to improve family planning outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To assess determinants of preferences, knowledge, attitudes, and practices of modern contraception among women of reproductive age in Woreta town. METHODS: A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in Woreta town, South Gondar zone, Ethiopia in April 2007. A multistage sampling procedure was carried out to interview 400 women in the study area. A pretested structured questionnaire was used for data collection. RESULTS: Eighty-nine percent of respondents were aware of modern contraceptives. Among respondents, 88% knew of at least 2 methods, and 12% knew only 1 method. More than 90% of respondents reported positive attitudes toward modern contraceptive use. The major reasons for nonuse of modern contraceptive methods (MCMs) were being single and a desire for more children. Injectables were the most commonly preferred modern contraceptive (63.2%) followed by oral contraceptive pill (21.2%). Few women reported a preference for the use of condoms (9.5%) or implants (6.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Respondents reported at least modest knowledge of MCMs; however, the results suggest a need for improving accessibility and education among women in this section of Ethiopia.