Voluntary blood donation knowledge, attitude, and practice among adult populations of Hosanna Town, South Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Even though blood donation has increased in the past decades, it remains a challenge worldwide. An adequate blood supply can only be assured through voluntary blood donation. There is inadequate information on the level of blood donation practice in the current study area. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice, and associated factors toward voluntary blood donation among Hosanna town adult populations. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 May 2022 to 30 June 2022, on a total of 422 adult populations of Hosanna town. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the study subjects. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews using a structured pre-tested questionnaire. The levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice of participants toward voluntary blood donation were measured using a set of questions. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Chi-square and odds ratios were calculated, and the results were presented with words and tables. Results: In this study, a total of 422 participants enrolled with a response rate of 96.6%. Of the total respondents, 204 (48.3%), 209 (49.5%), and 123 (29.15%) study participants had good knowledge, favorable attitude, and experience of blood donation, respectively. Participants' sex being male and having favorable attitudes were found to have significant associations with blood donation practice. Furthermore, it was found that male participants were more than two and a half times more likely to donate blood than female participants (AOR: 2.53; 95% CI: 1.54, 4.15). Those who had favorable attitudes were found more than three and a half times more likely to donate blood than those having unfavorable attitudes (AOR: 3.54; 95% CI: 1.32, 9.46). Conclusion and recommendations: A large proportion of adult populations had poor knowledge, unfavorable attitudes, and low practice toward voluntary blood donation. Therefore, local and national blood banks and transfusion agencies should design strategies that can be implemented to improve the knowledge or attitude of the adult population and motivate the population to donate blood voluntarily.

Organizational and health professional readiness for the implementation of electronic medical record system: an implication for the current EMR implementation in northwest Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: The WHO developed a manual outlining the preliminary organizational and health professionals' readiness to implement electronic medical records (EMR). On the other hand, the readiness assessment in Ethiopia only includes the evaluation of health professionals, leaving out organisational readiness components. As a result, this research aimed to determine health professionals' and organizational readiness to implement EMR at a specialized teaching hospital. METHODS: An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 423 health professionals and 54 managers. Self-administered and pretested questionnaires were used to collect data. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with health professionals' readiness for EMR implementation. An OR with a 95% CI and p<0.05 was used to determine the strength of the association and the statistical significance, respectively. RESULTS: In this study, 53.7% management capacity, 33.3% finance and budget capacity, 42.6% operational capacity, 37.0% technology capability and 53.7% organisational alignment among the five dimensions evaluated to assess an organisation's readiness to implement an EMR system. Of 411 health professionals in this study, 173 (42.1%) with (95 CI 37.3% to 46.8%) were ready to implement an EMR system at the hospital. Sex (AOR 2.69, 95% CI 1.73 to 4.18), basic computer training (AOR 1.59, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.46), knowledge of EMR (AOR 1.88, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.97) and attitudes towards EMR (AOR 1.65, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.59) were significantly associated with health professionals' readiness towards EMR system implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Findings showed that most dimensions of organizational readiness for EMR implementation were below 50%. This study also revealed a lower level of EMR implementation readiness among health professionals compared with previous research studies' results. To improve organisational readiness to implement an electronic medical record system, a focus on management capability, financial and budget capability, operational capability, technical capability and organisational alignment was crucial. Likewise, having basic computer training, giving special attention to female health professionals and improving health professionals' knowledge of and attitudes towards EMR could help improve the readiness level of health professionals for implementing an EMR system.