Awareness and healthcare seeking behavior of neonatal danger signs, and predictor variables among mothers/caregivers in four developing regional state of Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: Mothers/caregivers should be aware of a newborn's danger signs and promptly seek medical attention. Hence, this study assessed mothers'/caregivers' awareness, healthcare seeking behaviors for neonatal danger signs and their determinants in the developing regional state of Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was employed among mothers/caregivers of neonates in the developing regional state of Ethiopia. The sample was determined in collaboration with the Central Statistics Agency of Ethiopia. Stratified multi-stage cluster sampling was used to recruit the sample. Data were collected through an interviewer administered structured questionnaire using a tablet computer. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were applied to identify determinants of awareness and treatment-seeking behavior for neonatal danger signs. RESULTS: The result of the study showed that nearly one-third (32.7%) of the respondents had a good level of awareness of neonatal danger signs, and 69.0% of the respondents had good healthcare-seeking practice about neonatal danger signs. Regional state (Benishangul-Gumuz) [AOR = 1.61; 95% CI (1.09, 2.39)], Muslim's [AOR = 1.75; 95% CI (1.20, 2.55)] and permission to travel to a health facility [AOR = 0.48; 95% CI (0.37, 0.63)] were determinants of mothers'/caregivers' awareness about neonatal danger signs. Antenatal care (ANC) attendance and institutional delivery were shown to have a positive association with neonatal healthcare seeking (AOR = 2.14 and AOR = 2.37, respectively). CONCLUSION: In Ethiopia's developing regional states, mothers/caregivers were remarkably unaware of neonatal danger signs. Region, religion, mothers'/caregivers' age, and need for permission to travel to a health facility were predictor variables for neonatal danger sign awareness. Better healthcare seeking practices, which are determined by ANC attendance and institutional delivery, are observed in these regions. Federal and regional governments should give these regions due attention. Moreover, regional health bureaus and health professionals should tackle the problem by focusing on the identified factors.

Professional learning activities in the higher education institution of Ethiopia.

Ample studies have evidenced that the professional development of teachers significantly increases the quality of teaching and improves educational institutions. Nevertheless, adequate studies have not been carried out on the professional development of higher education teachers. Most studies focus on school teachers. Hence, this study investigated the professional learning activities of university teachers in Ethiopia. A case study design was used in which twenty-four teachers participated in the study. A semi-structured interview was used to explore the learning activities used by the participants. The findings demonstrate that various learning activities are utilised, each driven by a different form of inspiration. The learning motives largely depend on incentives and are motivated by outside factors. University instructors' professional learning practices seem to require more advanced learning methodologies to maintain their learning that is underpinned by self-motivated learning.

The practice of procedural pain assessment and management in neonatal intensive care unit in Ethiopia: Cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Neonates in intensive care units undergo frequent painful procedures for diagnostic or care-related purposes. Untreated pain has serious short-term and long-term complications. This study aims to evaluate the frequency of painful procedures, pain assessment, and their analgesic management practice among neonates admitted to the NICU. METHODS: The present study is a hospital-based cross-sectional study of neonates admitted at level II NICU of St. Paul hospital millennium medical college in Ethiopia between March and August 2019. Data were collected from medical charts of neonates and bedside observation using a checklist. The parameters included were demographic characteristics, types of painful procedures, pain assessment practice, and analgesic intervention provided during painful procedures. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U-test, and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the number of painful procedures and influencing factors. P-value < .05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Of the 325 neonates included in this study, a median of 4 (3-7) painful procedures were performed per neonate in the first 24 hours of NICU stay. Heel lance 280 (20.7%) and Venipuncture 249 (18.41%) were the most commonly performed painful procedures. Of the 1352 painful procedures, none of the neonates received any form of analgesic intervention and none of the neonate's pain scores were documented on their medical chart. The higher number of painful procedures were associated with gestational age between 28 and 31 weeks, birth weight less than 1500 g, and use of CPAP respiratory support P-value <.001, <.001, and .0015, respectively. CONCLUSION: Painful procedures were frequently performed in NICU without any form of analgesic intervention. Strategies to introduce neonatal pain assessment and their analgesic management for clinical practice are necessary.

Descriptive Epidemiology of breast and gynecological cancers among patients attending Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: Cancer is a leading cause of death in both more and less economically developed countries; the burden is expected to grow in less developed countries, such as Ethiopia. Lack of adequate information is one of the major problems preventing the design of cancer control strategies in Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE: To characterize gynecological and breast cancers among clients attending Gynecologic clinic of Saint Paul Hospital Millennium Medical college over 5 year period. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed characteristics of 2,002 female cancer patients who visited the Oncology unit of Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College from 2014-2018. We estimated the proportion, pattern and trend of common types of gynecologic cancers as well as breast cancer. The ten years incidence projection was also computed. RESULT: From the 2,002 malignancies, cervical (46.7%) was the most frequent cancer followed by breast (29.3%) and ovarian cancers (13%). The majority of breast cancers were observed among younger patients whereas cervical cancer was predominantly observed among older women. An overall increment in number of breast and gynecologic cancer was observed over the five years period. CONCLUSION: In this descriptive study, we found that breast and gynecologic cancers are important public health problems among women in Addis Ababa, and that the number of patients seeking care for these cancers is increasing. Additional studies are needed to identify risk factors for these cancers, particularly among younger women, to characterize the trends over time and to project the scope of the cancer problem expected in the future to inform cancer control programs. Increasing public awareness on the possible risk factors and screening is mandatory in addition to resource allocation for further studies and targeted intervention.

Perspectives of Protocol Based Breaking Bad News among Medical Patients and Physicians in a Teaching Hospital, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Discussing potentially bad outcomes is a standard communication task in clinical care. Physicians' awareness on ways to communicate bad news is considered low. SPIKES protocol is the most popular strategy used by physicians, but its practice and patients' perception are not known. This study attempted to fill the knowledge gap on protocol implementation, patient preference and physician effects. METHODS: Hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at SPHMMC from May 1 to June 30 using structured interviews administered to patients and physicians. Three hundred and sixty patients and 111 physicians were included. Assessment of SPIKES performance, patient satisfaction, patient preference, and physician awareness, attitude and effects were studied. RESULTS: Performance of SPIKES protocol was setting (74.5%), perception (51.1%), invitation (56.3%), knowledge (15.9%), emotion (22.3%) and summary (10.1%). Only 30.6% of the patients were entirely satisfied with the interaction, and 19.2% with knowledge attained. Patient satisfaction was associated with physician asking how much information they like (P=0.025). Patient desire and report showed variation. Eighty-two percent of the physicians were not aware of the protocol, and 83.8% had no training. Half of the physicians feel depressed after disclosure. CONCLUSIONS: Patient satisfaction with communication process and knowledge is poor, as is performance of SPIKES components. Satisfaction is related to being asked how much patients want to know. Patients' desires on how to be told news is different from how it is done. Breaking bad news increases feeling of depression. Awareness and training on the protocol are deficient; medical schools should incorporate it into their studies and implement proper follow-up.