Self-care behavior and associated factors among adult heart failure patients in outpatient cardiac follow-up unit at Wachemo University Nigist Eleni Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Southern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure is a serious medical condition that occurs when the heart is unable to pump sufficient blood to meet the needs of the tissues. Good self-care is an essential behavior in long term management and maintenance of physiologic stability, better medical and person-centered outcomes. Poor self-care behavior deteriorates the outcomes of heart failure patients. However, there were no sufficient evidences that illustrate the topic in the country, including the study area. METHODOLOGY: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 250 heart failure patients from July 5-August 4, 2021. All adult heart failure patients who fulfill the inclusion criteria and have appointment during study period were included in the study. Interview and medical chart review was used to collect data. Epidata version 3.1 and SPSS version 20 were used for data entry and analysis respectively. Bivariate and multivariable analysis was computed. The model fitness was checked by Hosmer and Lemeshow test. RESULTS: From the total patients, 240 were interviewed with the response rate of 96%. Among these, 140(58.3%) [95% CI: 52.6, 64.9] had poor self-care behavior. Age>54: 9.891 [2.228, 43.922], poor knowledge: 6.980[1.065, 45.727], depression: 4.973[1.107, 22.338], low social support: 6.060[1.373, 26.739], insomnia: 4.801[1.019, 22.622] and duration with heart failure <1 year: 5.782[1.438, 23.247] were factors associated with poor self-care behavior. CONCLUSION: In this study, more than half of participants attending at Wachemo University Nigist Eleni Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in outpatient cardiac follow-up unit had poor self-care behavior. Of the study variables, older age, poor knowledge, depressive symptoms, low social support, insomnia and short duration with heart failure were related with poor self-care behavior. Thus, the findings highlight importance of assessing level of self-care behavior and implicate direction to take action to enhance level of self-care behavior.

Incidence and Predictors of Cardiac Arrest Among Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Units of a Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Central Ethiopia.

Background: Cardiac arrest (CA) is a common public health problem. Worldwide, cardiac arrest ranks highly among hospitalised patients' public health concerns, particularly in low-income nations. Data on cardiac arrest in intensive care units in low-income countries are relatively scarce. Determining the incidence and predictors of cardiac arrest among ICU patients will be a very crucial and fruitful clinical practice in resource-limited areas like Ethiopia. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted by reviewing charts of 422 systematically selected patients admitted to the ICU from 2018 to 2022 in Wachemo University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. The extraction tool was used for the data collection, Epi-data version 4.6.0 for data entry, and STATA version 14 for data cleaning and analysis. Kaplan-Meier, log rank test, and life table were used to describe the data. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used for analysis. Results: The findings of this study revealed that the overall occurrence of cardiac arrest among critically ill ICU patients was 27% (95% CI: 23, 32). The incidence density rate of cardiac arrest among intensive care unit patients was 19.6 per 1000 person-days of observation. In a multivariable analysis, patients with chronic kidney disease, oxygen saturation <90%, delirium, intubation, and patients admitted to the ICU with cardiovascular disease were found to be independent predictors of cardiac arrest in the Intensive Care Unit. Conclusion: The incidence density rate of cardiac arrest among intensive care unit patients was high. This study also revealed that chronic kidney disease, delirium, intubation, oxygen saturation level below 90% and patients admitted with cardiovascular disease were independent predictors of the occurrence of cardiac arrest among intensive care unit patients. Finally, we recommend that clinician pays attention to those identified as preventable risk factors for early interventions to improve the recovery process of patients in the ICU.