Husbands involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness in Axum town, Tigray region, Ethiopia, 2017.

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, around 289,000 maternal mortalities occur each year from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. In Ethiopia, the maternal mortality rate is among the highest in the world. This is mainly contributed by the three delays. Husbands' involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness can significantly reduce these delays. Therefore, it is important to know what, currently, is the husbands view regarding knowledge of key danger sign and involvement about birth preparedness and complication readiness. The investigation of husband's involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness was sounded throughout much of the developed world. However, despite the putative assumption that the problem exists in Ethiopia at large and Axum in particular, there is no article related to the problem as yet. For this reason, the study intended to assess husband's involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness. METHOD: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Axum Town from September-June 2017. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 406 husbands using the lottery method and interviewer administered structured questionnaires. Data were entered into Epi info version 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. The statistical analysis was made at the 95% confidence level. The data were summarized and described using descriptive statistics. RESULT: Four hundred six husbands were participating in the study with a response rate of 98%. Out of total respondents 258(64.7%) were in the age range of '18 - 39' years and the mean age was 36.55 years. Three hundred forty-three (86%) of the respondents has attended primary education or above and 187(46.9%) fulfilled five or more variables of parameter for husband's involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness and leveled as having good involvement. One hundred sixteen (29.1%) respondents had gotten health service problems that prohibited from going to the health facility. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, the overall involvements by husbands in birth preparedness and complication readiness were low. Most of the respondents have low knowledge. Knowledge of husbands, health service issues, facility and quality of care are reported factors that affect husband's involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness.

Medication administration error and contributing factors among pediatric inpatient in public hospitals of Tigray, northern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Medication administration error is a medication error that occurs while administering a medication to a patient. A variety of factors make pediatrics more susceptible to medication errors and its consequences. In low-income countries, like Ethiopia, there is no sufficient evidence regarding medication administration error among pediatrics. The aim of this study is, therefore, to determine the magnitude and factors associated with medication administration error among pediatric population. METHODS: A prospective observational based cross sectional study design was conducted from January to April 2017. Data collection was done using pre-tested structured questionnaire and blind observation checklist to health professionals in charge of administering selected medications. A total of 1282 medication administrations were obtained using single population proportion formula from patients in the selected public hospitals and the samples were selected using multistage sampling technique. Multivariable logistic regression using odds ratio and 95% confidence interval was used to determine the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Variables with p-value < 0.05 were considered as independent factors for medication administration error. RESULT: A total of 1251 medication administrations were observed from 1251 patients. The occurrence of medication administration error was 62.7% with 95% CI (59.6%, 65.0%), wrong dose being the most common type of medication administration error with an occurrence rate of 53.7%. Medications administered for pediatric patients less than 1 month age, administered by bachelor degree holder health professionals, prepared in facilities without medication preparation room, prepared in facilities without medication administration guide and administer for patients who have two or more prescribed medications were more likely to have medication administration error than their counterparts with AOR (95% CI) of 7.54(2.20-25.86), 1.52 (1.07-2.17), 13.45 (8.59-21.06), 4.11 (2.89-5.85), and 2.42 (1.62-3.61), respectively. CONCLUSION: This study has revealed that there is high occurrence of medication administration error among pediatric inpatients in public hospitals of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.. Age of patients, educational level of medication administrators, availability of the medication preparation room and guide, and the number of medications given per single patient were statistically significant factors associated with occurrence of medication administration error.

Prevalence and factors associated with intestinal parasites among food handlers of food and drinking establishments in Aksum Town, Northern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Various epidemiological studies indicate that the prevalence of intestinal parasites is high in developing countries and those parasites are major public health importance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Their distribution is mainly associated with poor personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and lack of access to clean water. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection and identify factors associated with intestinal parasitic infection among food handlers in the Aksum Town of Tigray Regional State, North Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used among 400 randomly selected food handlers who were selected as respondents. Data were collected by face to face interviewer administered questionnaire supplemented with observational checklist. Fresh stool samples were collected from respondents and were examined microscopically for the presence of any of intestinal parasites using standard laboratory methods. Multivariable logistic regression model using Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was fitted to analyze the independent predictors of intestinal parasitic infections. RESULT: The mean age of the food handlers included in this study was 26.0 years. Of the total respondents, 72.5% were females, 63% have completed at least secondary school educational level. Five species of Intestinal Parasites (IPs) were identified. The overall prevalence of being infected with at least one intestinal parasite was 14.5%, 95% CI (11.3, 18.0). The odds of being positive for at least one intestinal parasitic infection was 12.3 times higher among food handlers who practice medical checkup every 9 months compared to those who have a medical checkup every 3 months. The odds of being positive for intestinal parasitic infection was 3 times higher among food handlers with no formal education compared to those who have a level of education secondary school and above. Food handlers who received food hygiene and safety training were 66% less likely to be positive for at least one intestinal parasitic infection as compared to those who did not receive training. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of parasitic infection among food handlers observed in the current study is relatively low but is still a public health importance. Number of medical checkup, training in food hygiene and safety, feedback from customers and level of education were significantly associated with reduced odds of being infected with parasitic infection. Hence, these factors should be focused by policy makers and implementers to further bring the prevalence below the level of public health importance.

A cross sectional study on nursing process implementation and associated factors among nurses working in selected hospitals of Central and Northwest zones, Tigray Region, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: The nursing process is a systematic method of planning, delivering, and evaluating individualized care for clients in any state of health or illness. Many countries have adopted the nursing process as the standard of care to guide nursing practice; however, the problem is its implementation. If nurses fail to carry out the necessary nursing care through the nursing process; the effectiveness of patient progress may be compromised and can lead to preventable adverse events. This study was aimed to assess the implementation of nursing process and associated factors among nurses working in selected hospitals of central and northwest zones of Tigray, Ethiopia, 2015. METHOD: A cross sectional observational study design was utilized. Data was collected from 200 participants using structured self-administered questionnaire which was contextually adapted from standardized, reliable and validated measures. The data were entered using Epi Info version 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. Data were summarized and described using descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the relationship of independent and dependent variable. Then, finally, data were presented in tables, graphs, frequency percentage of different variables. RESULT: Seventy (35%) of participants have implemented nursing process. Different factors showed significant association. Nurses who worked in a stressful atmosphere of the workplace were 99% less likely to implement the nursing process than nurses who worked at a very good atmosphere. The nurses with an educational level of BSc. Degree were 6.972 times more likely to implement the nursing process than those who were diploma qualified. Nurses with no consistent material supply to use the nursing process were 95.1% less likely to implement the nursing process than nurses with consistent material supply. CONCLUSION: The majority of the participants were not implementing the nursing process properly. There are many factors that hinder them from applying the nursing process of which level of education, knowledge of nurses, skill of nurses, atmosphere of the work place, shortage of material supply to use the nursing process and high number of patient load were scientifically significant for the association test.

Training improved the note taking skill of nursing students in Aksum University; northern Ethiopia: a classroom-based action research.

OBJECTIVE: Note taking is an effective strategy to improve students' learning. It is considered that very few learners are fit enough for basic note taking skill. Thus, this study was aimed to assess note taking skill and motivation for learning of nursing students and to take action on the identified gaps. RESULTS: The mean note taking skill score is 22.95 ± 4.766. The study demonstrates 9.1% of students had good note taking skill but 54.5 and 36.4% had moderate and poor note taking skills respectively. Regarding learning motivation, 13.6% had motivation and the rest 68.2 and 18.2% had moderate and poor motivation for learning to be a nurse respectively. On the items used to examine motivation, 54.1% of students were less motivated to ask questions in classroom though clarification is needed. Reasons for poor note taking showed 68.2 and 27.3% responded due to "most faculties are simply reading from the slides" and "students are confident that instructors will give slide copies later" respectively were the two main cited reasons respectively. Training nursing students about note taking techniques has made considerable impact on student's learning behavior.

Trend of hypertension morbidity and mortality in Tigray Region from 2011 to 2015, Tigray, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: Hypertension in developing countries were not considered as a major concern. This lack of concern can be explained by the health policy and research of the past years, which had its main focus on infectious diseases but this study focuses on 4 years trend of hypertension mortality and morbidity. A facility based retrospective health management information system record assessment was carried out. RESULT: Of the total 66,099 cases registered in the Health Management Information system book, 27,601 were males and 38,498 females. Considering the variation in each year, the overall trend of hypertension mortality has decreased from 32 in 2011/12 to 25 in 2014/15. The number of patients died in 2011 was 1.6 times higher than those who died in 2012. The rate admission of in inpatient and outpatient department visit is increasing from 9257 to 23,633 and 9799 to 24,425 respectively with in 4 years. Though there is variation among reports regarding the rate of morbidity and mortality, Tigray region has been improving its health care for hypertensive patients, which results in a decreasing mortality rate while the morbidity is still alarming.