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BACKGROUND: A medication error (ME) is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm. Voluntary reporting has a principal role in appreciating the extent and impact of medication errors. Thus, exploration of the proportion of medication error reporting and associated factors among nurses is important to inform service providers and program implementers so as to improve the quality of the healthcare services. METHODS: Institution based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 397 nurses from March 6 to May 10, 2015. Stratified sampling followed by simple random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. The data were collected using structured self-administered questionnaire which was adopted from studies conducted in Australia and Jordan. A pilot study was carried out to validate the questionnaire before data collection for this study. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to identify factors associated with the proportion of medication error reporting among nurses. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was computed to determine the level of significance. RESULT: The proportion of medication error reporting among nurses was found to be 57.4%. Regression analysis showed that sex, marital status, having made a medication error and medication error experience were significantly associated with medication error reporting. CONCLUSION: The proportion of medication error reporting among nurses in this study was found to be higher than other studies.
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BACKGROUND: To provide quality care at the end of life or for chronically sick patients, nurses must have good knowledge, attitude and practice about palliative care (PC). In Ethiopia PC is new and very little is known about the type of services offered and the readiness of nurses to provide PC. METHODS: A cross sectional quantitative study design was carried out using 341 nurses working in selected hospitals in Addis Ababa from January 2012 to May 2012. Systematic random sampling was the method employed to select two governmental and two non-governmental hospitals. The researchers used triangulation in their study method making use of: Frommelt's Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) Scale, Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) and practice questions. This led to enhanced validity of the data. EPI-INFO and SPSS software statistical packages were applied for data entry and analysis. RESULT: Of the total 365 nurses selected, a response rate of 341 (94.2%) were registered. Out of the total study participants, 104 (30.5%) had good knowledge and 259 (76%) had favorable attitude towards PC. Medical and surgical wards as well as training on PC were positively associated with knowledge of nurses. Institution, individuals' level of education, working in medical ward and the training they took part on PC were also significantly associated with the attitude the nurses had. Nurses working in Hayat Hospital (nongovernmental) had a 71.5% chance of having unfavorable attitude towards PC than those working in Black Lion Hospital (governmental). Regarding their knowledge aspect of practice, the majority of the respondents 260 (76.2%) had poor implementation, and nearly half of the respondents had reported that the diagnosis of patients was usually performed at the terminal stage. In line with this, spiritual and medical conditions were highly taken into consideration while dealing with terminally ill patients. CONCLUSION: The nurses had poor knowledge and knowledge aspect of practice, but their attitude towards PC was favorable. Recommendations are that due attention should be given towards PC by the national health policy and needs to be incorporated in the national curriculum of nurse education.
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Background. According to the American Cancer Society, about 1.3 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer annually worldwide and about 465,000 will die from the disease. In Ethiopia breast cancer is the second most often occurring cancer among women. Early diagnosis is especially important for breast cancer because the disease responds best to treatment before it has spread. Objective. To assess knowledge of breast cancer and screening methods among nurses in university hospitals. Method. This cross-sectional descriptive study used simple random sampling on sample of 281 nurses. Structured questionnaires draw out responses about knowledge and screening method of nurses in regard to breast cancer. Bivariate analysis was used principally and variables were then entered to multiple logistic regressions model for controlling the possible effect of confounders and the variables which have significant association were identified on the basis of OR, with 95% CI and P value. Results. The findings of this study revealed that only 156 (57.8%) of them were knowledgeable about breast cancer and its screening and 114 (42.2%) were not. Knowledge of breast cancer was found to be significantly associated with regular course in nursing, family history of respondents, and unit of work. Conclusion and Recommendation. The results of this study indicate that the knowledge of nurses is not satisfying and highlight the need to improve the content in the nursing curriculum and to undergo more workplace training in the area of breast cancer and screening methods.