Errors in transfusion of blood and blood products can lead to preventable morbidity and mortality. Nurses constitute a significant aspect of the transfusion process as they are the last in the chain of getting blood directly to the patient. They must, therefore, be conversant with the current standard of national and international guidelines on blood transfusion and appropriate management of adverse transfusion events. This study assesses the knowledge and practices of blood transfusion safety among nurses at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed, and structured questionnaire (Routine Blood Transfusion Knowledge Questionnaire) was used to collect data from 279 nurses from seven clinical directorates of the hospital. The data were processed with Stata version 14.0. Variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and relationships were drawn using inferential statistics. Over 90% of the respondents had a minimum of a diploma in nursing or midwifery, 63% had performed blood transfusion at least 5 times, and 46% had never received any training on blood transfusion. The mean score obtained in all four categories of blood transfusion knowledge assessed was 29, with 54% of the respondents scoring below the mean. The highest overall score on knowledge was 53%. This indicates that nurses had poor knowledge regarding safe blood transfusion practices as stipulated in the clinical guidelines for blood transfusion by Ghana’s National Blood Service. There was no statistically significant relationship between training/experience and knowledge of safe blood transfusion practices. Regular and continuous update training and audit are needed to safeguard patient safety during blood transfusion.

No abstract

ObjectiveTo describe self‐management recommendations for sickle cell disease (SCD) care among health professionals who manage SCD in Ghana.MethodNine health care professionals (nurses, doctors, and physician assistants) who work in SCD were interviewed. The semistructured interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using the qualitative content analysis method. Self‐management recommendations were conceptualised as preventive health, self‐monitoring, self‐diagnosis, self‐treatment, and self‐evaluation.ResultsPreventive health recommendations were the commonest, where the professionals described similar topics including avoidance of cold temperature, frequent oral hydration, and healthy nutrition. Self‐monitoring recommendations included regular checks for pallor, urine colour, and splenic enlargement. Self‐diagnosis recommendations were captured as warning signs and included pain, fever, unusual feelings, and enlarged spleen. Pain and fever management were the focus of most self‐treatment advice, and there were some self‐treatment recommendations for dactylitis, anaemia, and priapism. There was considerable variation in the strategies recommended for the management of individual SCD‐related problems.ConclusionGhanaian health professionals involved in SCD care provide limited and inconsistent self‐management recommendations. There is a need for the development of SCD standards and guidelines that support effective self‐management. Health professionals working in SCD require continuing education in self‐management.

Background. Clinical teaching and learning are critical in bridging the theory-practice gap in nursing education. This study aimed at exploring nursing students’ perception of clinical teaching and learning in Ghana. In particular, this study sought to (1) describe the factors that promote clinical teaching, (2) examine students’ perception of clinical teaching, (3) describe the impact of clinical learning on students, and (4) explore ways of improving clinical teaching and learning. Methods. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted with 16 final-year nursing students using telephone-based interviews. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with a semistructured interview guide, and data were analysed by the qualitative thematic analysis. Results. The findings indicate that being taught new things, being supervised, and having autonomy were the most significant factors that promoted clinical learning. Participants also reported that clinical experience created learning opportunities that helped develop clinical competence. They described learning experiences in the clinical setting as good, albeit gaps in practice. Poor staff attitude, lack of equipment, poor student attitude, inadequate learning opportunities, and lack of clinical supervisors were perceived as challenges in the clinical environment. Conclusions. Efforts to consciously teach, supervise, and challenge students to have independence in the clinical area will promote clinical teaching and learning. Therefore, nursing educational institutions and all other stakeholders need to collaborate in eliminating the numerous challenges students encounter in the clinical environment.

Introduction Surgical operations are inevitable in alleviating certain disease conditions, however, surgical procedures are associated with pain. Pain is defined as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage". 1 Postoperative pain refers to the pain experienced after surgery. 2 Studies show that children feel pain just like the adult population. 3-5 Every individual is entitled to pain management. Pain assessment must first be performed before treatment commences. 6-9 Pain assessment involves the use of subjective and objective measures and the subjective measures involve the use of self-reports where patients verbalize or describe their pain. Objective measures comprising behavioural and physiological measures are commonly used to assess children's pain. Behavioural measures involve observing how a child behaves in response to pain such as facial expressions, crying, body postures and movements. 10 Physiological measures include assessment of heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, oxygen saturation, palmer sweating and temperature. 11 For pain, assessment to be practical, and consistent pain assessment tools and guidelines are used. Some of the common pain assessment tools used among children include Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R), the Wong-Baker Faces Scale and the Oucher Scale, the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry and Consolability (FLACC), the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale (CHEOPS), the Toddler-Preschooler Postoperative Pain Scale (TPPPS), and the Parents' Postoperative Pain Rating Scale (PPPRS). It has been established that inadequate assessment of post-operative pain leads to inadequate management which can lead to severe complications such as delayed wound healing, deep vein thrombosis, atelectasis, pneumonia and even death. 12-15 Despite the knowledge