ABSTRACT Nurses encounter several challenges in managing patients with spinal cord injury. However, little is known about this area of nursing care. Thus the purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nurses managing patients with spinal cord injury at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. An exploratory descriptive qualitative design was employed for this study. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit sixteen (16) nurses who were eligible for the study. The purpose, benefits and ...
ABSTRACT Background: Vegetarianism is a dietary lifestyle that involves the restriction of diet, disallowing some or all foods of animal origin, thereby consuming mainly foods of plant origin. Vegetarian diets are composed of only plant products which include fruits and vegetables, as well as grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. The plant products they consume are rich sources of vitamins such as Vitamins A, C and E which act directly as antioxidants, as well as protein and minerals such as zinc,...
ABSTRACT Maternal health is not a woman’s issue, but the integrity of communities, societies and nations, since the well-being of all humans depend upon healthy mothers. The MDGs adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 to make the world a better place for all, comprised eight goals. Goal five is improved maternal health which has two main targets. The study assessed maternal health targets in the Dangme West District. The study used a qualitative paradigm and a case study design. The qual...
ABSTRACT Cervical cancer is a global public health problem that has claimed the lives of several women. However, information on level of knowledge about the disease and the behaviors that predisposes to the infection is scarce especially among tertiary female students in south-south Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to assess cervical cancer knowledge, elicit the types of risk behaviors practiced among the students and to give recommendations based on findings. Descriptive compar...
ABSTRACT Sickle Cell Anemia, an inherited devastating genetic disorder requires wholistic and multi-disciplinary approach in its care, with full involvement of affected families. Children are the future generation of any ethnic group and their vulnerability nature calls for proper care. World Health Organization (WHO), declared sickle cell anemia public health priority according to Makani et al.,2010 as 2% of New Born Babies in Nigeria Alone are affected by sickle cell anemia given a tot...
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Male partner involvement has been recognised as a key factor in improving maternal health and reducing maternal mortality in settings where men play key role in decision making in the household. Aspects of reproductive health like family planning and treatment of STI have seen improvement where male involvement has been encouraged. Ghana has a high maternal mortality rate of 350/ 100,000 live births with a slow decline towards its goal of 185/ 100,000 live births by 2015. ...
ABSTRACT Nurses have a major role in providing high-quality care to patients. The nurse manager has 24- hour responsibility and accountability and is ‘pivotal’ to the delivery of effective, efficient and quality health care. However, many of the nurse managers play their roles without adequate formal preparation and have to battle with the shortage of resources, especially staff as well as challenges from other health professionals in an effort to manage the unit. The study examined the ...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Fever describes an increase in internal body temperature to levels that are above normal (commonly oral/axillary measurement of normal human body temperature is 36.8±0.7 °C or 98.2±1.3 °F) and is the most common response of the body to any insult to the body. The most common cause of fever in our setting is malaria and therefore children get treated for malaria once they have a fever whether the cause is proven (by laboratory confirmation) to be malaria or not. Ot...
ABSTRACT Background: The advancement through the HIV Care Cascade, from HIV testing to permanent retention in Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Care and treatment programs, is vital to the success of HIV treatment and prevention efforts. However, persons are lost to follow up at each stage of the Continuum and little is known about the factors contributing to attrition at these stages in Ghana. This study determined factors associated with the Care Continuum of HIV/AIDS patients receiving antiret...
ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore the psychosocial precipitants and rate of relapse among substance abusers in the Sunyani Metropolis, Ghana. A total of 30 respondents comprising 15 relapsed (with their primary caregivers), 10 non-relapsed, 3 psychiatric nurses, 1 psychiatrist and 1 psychotherapist was recruited for the study. The study employed a qualitative research design. Data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. The rate of relapse was computed quantitatively using relapsed respon...
ABSTRACT Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women in Ghana and the world at large. Cervical cancer screening has been proven to be effective in reducing the incidence, morbidity and mortality associated with cervical cancer worldwide. It helps to detect cervical cancer at the precancer stage before cancer develops. Despite this, it is not always available in most low- and middle-income countries as compared to high-income countries. In countries where it is available...
ABSTRACT Background Malaria has a high burden in sub-Saharan Africa which is caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Delayed or inaccurate diagnosis of malaria could lead to fatal consequences in patients seeking medical care for malaria. Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (mRDT) provide an alternative in the absence of malaria microscopy to provide prompt and accurate diagnosis and is used to complement clinical diagnosis of individuals who report at health facilities with unspecific symptoms. Low sen...
ABSTRACT The study explores the factors that influence decisions of women in the Kassena Nankana District from delivering or not delivering in the health care facilities despite their use of antenatal care services at the facilities. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select two groups of women who had antenatal care at the facilities. Two hundred women were interviewed i.e. 100 who delivered at the facilities and 100 who delivered at home. A structured questionnaire was used to collec...
ABSTRACT HIV Infection continues to impact the world of work. This is especially more evident in the health sector where health workers are at risk of hospital acquired infections and attitudes and practices strongly influence the response to the provision of prevention, treatment, care and support interventions for infected patients. The ILO thus recommends the implementation of HIV Work place policies at Global, Regional, County and Local levels. In line with this the MOH, Ghana published i...
ABSTRACT The elderly population has been noted to be particularly at risk of being involved in burn injury and outcomes are usually related to significant morbidity and mortality rates resulting in increasing dependence on others. Despite this, there is limited exploration of their caregivers‘ experiences. Thus, this study aimed at exploring and describing the experiences of family caregivers of elderly burned patients at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. The study was guided by the Stres...