BackgroundA medication error (ME) is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm. Voluntary reporting has a principal role in appreciating the extent and impact of medication errors. Thus, exploration of the proportion of medication error reporting and associated factors among nurses is important to inform service providers and program implementers so as to improve the quality of the healthcare services.MethodsInstitution based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 397 nurses from March 6 to May 10, 2015. Stratified sampling followed by simple random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. The data were collected using structured self-administered questionnaire which was adopted from studies conducted in Australia and Jordan. A pilot study was carried out to validate the questionnaire before data collection for this study. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to identify factors associated with the proportion of medication error reporting among nurses. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was computed to determine the level of significance.ResultThe proportion of medication error reporting among nurses was found to be 57.4%. Regression analysis showed that sex, marital status, having made a medication error and medication error experience were significantly associated with medication error reporting.ConclusionThe proportion of medication error reporting among nurses in this study was found to be higher than other studies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12912-018-0280-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is rising worldwide and is more in the developing countries which unfortunately are already suffering from communicable diseases. The aim of this study was to assess adherence and associated factors towards antidiabetic medication among type II diabetic patients in University of Gondar Hospital, Diabetic Clinic, Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods. Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted. Systematic sampling technique was used. Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) scores were used for labeling patients as adherent or nonadherent. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. To see the association of variables logistic regression with OR and 95% CI was done. Results. A total of 288 study participants were interviewed with response rate of 100%. The level of adherence was found to be 85.1%. Factors found to be significantly associated with antidiabetic medication adherence were level of education (AOR = 14.27, 95% CI = 3.0, 67.82), duration of diabetes (AOR = 6.10, 95% CI = 2.03, 18.34), and knowledge about DM and its medications (AOR = 28.05, 95% CI = 8.96, 87.8). Conclusions and Recommendations. Large proportion of respondents in this study were found to be adherent to their antidiabetic medications. Level of education, duration of diabetes, and knowledge about DM and its medication were significantly associated with antidiabetic medication adherence of patients. Health education including adherence counseling to create awareness towards DM and its medications is mandatory.

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Nearly 83% of the world's new cases and 85% of all cervical cancer-related deaths occur in developing countries. It is primarily caused by human papilloma virus (HPV); a sexually transmitted pathogen that could be prevented with safe sexual practice and using vaccines among others. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of reproductive age group women towards cervical cancer and its prevention in Gondar town. Methods: A descriptive community based cross-sectional study was carried out. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was employed for data collection. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select the study participants. Descriptive statistics like frequency, mean and percentage were computed using SPSS version 20 software program. Results: Seven hundred and seventy women (n = 770) participated with a response rate of 100%. More than half, (65.1%) of the participants claim hearing of cervical cancer. However, majority (> 80%) of them lack knowledge that HPV is a causative agent of cervical cancer which is extremely worrying as the most important way to prevent cervical cancer is blocking HPV infection. Of those who had heard of it, only 107 (21.4%) said they have heard about Pap smear test. From them, less than half, 47 (43.9%) said that an apparently healthy woman should undergo the test at least three times in her life. This means in addition to the lack of information about the test, majority of those who had heard about it didn't know how many times they should have the test in their life. Overall, only 153 (19.87%) of the participants were found having a good knowledge of cervical cancer and its prevention. Conclusion: The overall knowledge of women towards cervical cancer was inadequate. On the other hand, those who had heard about it had a somewhat encouraging attitude. Mass media was the major source of information. But, any public health problem cannot be solved in isolation. Hence, initiating large-scale awareness campaigns is recommended.

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