Adherence to Treatment among Patients With End-Stage Renal Disease Undergoing Hemodialysis In Selected Centers In Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Hemodialysis remains a commonly available treatment option for many patients with end-stage renal disease. In addition to regular hemodialysis, these patients require regular use of medicines, follow fluid restriction and dietary modification. Hence, adherence to treatment remains a major factor to improve survival and quality of life among these patients. Therefore, this study was carried out to identify the adherence to treatment among patients undergoing hemodialysis. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 160 patients undergoing hemodialysis at three centers of Bagmati province of Nepal from July to December 2020. We used End-Stage Renal Disease Adherence Questionnaire (ESRD-AQ) to record the adherence scores in different domains of treatment adherence. The scores were compared with different sociodemographic variables using nonparametric tests. RESULTS: Out of a total score of 1200, the overall obtained mean score was 1084.07±125.58. The percentage of the respondents adhering to dialysis, medicines, fluid, and diet was 91.9%, 76.3%, 48.9%, and 43.0% respectively. Male patients scored significantly higher score in the diet. And the married patients scored higher in adherence to fluid. Patients with middle socio-economic status scored significantly higher score in adherence to hemodialysis treatment. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the respondents were non adherent to fluid and diet. Periodic motivation by health care professional and dietary counseling by dietitians might be helpful to improve the adherence to treatment.

Factors associated with job satisfaction among graduate nursing faculties in Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Job satisfaction among nursing faculty is critical to improving quality of nursing education, producing future nurses who will contribute directly to the health of patients at a local and national level. This study explores factors associated with job satisfaction among graduate nursing faculties in different universities of Nepal. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among nursing faculty with at least one year of teaching in their respective institutions. A 36-items job satisfaction questionnaire with 6-point Likert type responses was administered online. The questionnaire was pre-tested with 30 faculties pooled from multiple institutions. Link to the final survey was sent via e-mail to 327 nursing faculties working in 39 nursing colleges. Respondents were contacted by phone as a follow up to the email to politely remind them about the survey. Data analysis was carried out with SAS University Edition software. Chi-Square test and t-test were used for simple descriptive analysis. A multivariate binary logistic regression model was used to identify the significant factors associated with nursing faculties' job satisfaction. Adjusted odds ratio was calculated and significance was considered at p ≤ 0.05 with 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The response rate was 54.4%. After retrospective cleaning of data, usable response rate was 52.3% (n = 171). The average age of the nursing faculties was 36.8 ± 7.0 years. Based on the overall job satisfaction score, 36.8% nursing faculties were satisfied with their current job. The coefficient for Cronbach's alpha was 0.895 suggesting very good reliability of the overall measure. The significant factors associated with job satisfaction were the involvement of the faculties in decision making process related to the department (OR = 4.83) and adequate access to reference materials (OR = 2.90). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that nursing faculties have positive attitude towards their job but are dissatisfied with the benefits offered to them and the operating condition of their institutions. Expanding the teaching learning resources, such as reference books, subscription to journals, and continuing education opportunities for nursing faculties through participation in professional meetings would be helpful in improving the quality of nursing education in Nepal.

Blood Transfusion Practice among Healthcare Personnel in Nepal: An Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: The complications associated with errors in transfusion practice can be minimized by assessing transfusion practices. In Nepal, there is no standard protocol on blood transfusion. So, this study was conducted with an aim to assess the blood transfusion practice among healthcare personnel. METHODS: A descriptive observational study was conducted in two tertiary hospitals in Kathmandu, Nepal, over a period of 10 months. Bedside blood transfusion procedures were observed using structured checklist. RESULTS: Altogether, 86 observations were made. Time taken from dispatch from the blood bank to transfusion was >2 hours in 53.2% of cases. In majority of the cases, blood was kept in the ward in uncontrolled and unprotected manner by the patients' relatives. Only 8.2% of the patients and/or the relatives were informed about the reasons, associated probable risks (2.4%), and the benefits of transfusion (4.7%). Assessment of vital signs at 15 minutes of initiation of transfusion was done on about 2 to 4% of cases. CONCLUSION: We found a suboptimal blood transfusion practice in Nepal, which could be attributable to substantial knowledge gap among healthcare personnel and the absence of quality culture, quality system, and quality management in the area of blood transfusion practices.

Problems of Breast Cancer Survivors Living in an Urban Area of Nepal.

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to identify the problems of Nepalese breast cancer survivors living in an urban area who had completed their treatment for at least 6 months. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess the problems of breast cancer survivors who were registered at the Nepal Cancer Support Group. Fifty-one women who were diagnosed with breast cancer (Stage 0 to III) and were currently disease-free were enrolled in the study. They were interviewed using structured interview schedule using the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial Symptom Scale. Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS (version 16). RESULTS: The mean age of the women at the time of enrollment was 47.3 years. The most common modality of treatment they received was the combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy (84%). Top five symptoms experienced by the survivors on the basis of frequency and severity were tiredness (61%), lack of energy (57%), forgetfulness (57%), lack of interest in sex (52%), general body aches (49%), and feeling of worrisome and anxiousness about future (49%). Women with age <45 years at diagnosis had higher mean rank score in psychological (24.7) and social problems (23.9) in comparison to women aged ≥45 years. There was a significant relationship between severe psychological (34.9 vs. 19.6; P = 0.001) and social problems (29.1 vs. 21.2; P = 0.03), with the time since primary treatment completion of <1 year. CONCLUSIONS: Nepalese breast cancer survivors were found to have multiple physical, psychological, and social problems and might require special attention during follow-up visits.

Quality of life of adult clients on renal replacement therapies in Nepal.

AIM: To compare the influence of demographic and clinical variables on quality of life (QOL) amongst haemodialysis (HD) and renal transplantation clients in Nepal. BACKGROUND: Renal replacement therapy in the form of renal transplant is a newer modality in Nepal. In this study, effectiveness of renal transplant and maintenance HD in clients with end-stage renal disease were evaluated in a Nepalese context. METHOD: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted to compare the QOL of clients undergoing HD and renal transplantation in two treatment centres in Nepal. Information on QOL was collected by using the WHOQOL-BREF instrument through interviews. RESULT: The clients in the transplantation groups were significantly younger, highly educated and employed. The QOL score of clients with renal transplantation was significantly higher in the physical, psychological and social relationship domains. While assessing QOL score in transplantation groups, females scored significantly higher score in the environmental domain compared with males. CONCLUSION: The QOL score in renal transplant recipients was significantly better than that of clients on HD in three of the four WHOQOL-BREF domains. The limited resources and facilities for renal transplantation and the post-transplant follow-up service in Nepal might have contributed to a poorer outcome on the environmental domain in this group.