A cross-sectional study was carried out in a rural hospital in south-western Nigeria to determine the prevalence of low back pain among its staff. The questionnaire administered to staff sought information on social and demographic characteristics, job history, smoking status, frequency and severity of low back pain and factors predisposing to low back pain. Seventy-four out of a total of 80 workers participated in the study. The prevalence of low back pain among staff was 46%. The highest prevalence of back pain (69%) was recorded among nursing staff, followed by secretaries/administrative staff (55%) and cleaners/aides (47%). Heavy physical work (45%), poor posture (20%) and prolonged standing or sitting (20%) were the most frequent activities reported to be associated with low back pain among these workers. The prevalence of low back pain among these workers is comparable to that of workers in high income countries. Health education on posture and correct lifting techniques can be introduced to reduce the burden of low back pain among these workers.

Background. Effective communication is imperative for the delivery and receipt of adequate health care services.Aim. To determine access to information technology and willingness to receive short message service (SMS) text message reminders for childhood immunisation services among mothers in Lagos, Nigeria. Method.In this descriptive cross-sectional study, interviews using structured questionnaires were conducted with 399 mothers of children aged <5 years who brought their children to attend the immuno-prophylaxis and child welfare clinic of Lagos University Teaching Hospital during July and August 2011.Results. The age of the respondents ranged from 16 to 51 years with a mean of 31.1±4.7 years. Almost all (98%) were current owners of mobile phones, 68% had computer access, 66% were current users of the Internet though most used it occasionally and 65% had e-mail addresses. About three-quarters (77%) were willing to receive future SMS reminders about childhood immunisations although 67% preferred telephonic reminders to SMS and only 53% were willing to pay for the reminders. Respondents who were currently married and had at least a post-secondary education were more willing to receive SMS reminders. Conclusion.The mothers had better access to mobile phones than the Internet and were willing to receive SMS immunisation reminders. Future intervention strategies should explore payment mechanisms for SMS reminders, as there is an unwillingness to bear the cost by the respondents.

IntroductionService quality assessments have assumed increasing importance in the last two decades. They are useful in identifying gaps in services been provided with the ultimate aim of guaranteeing quality assurance. The objective of this study was to assess the client perception of service quality at the outpatient clinics of Randle General hospital, Lagos.MethodsA descriptive cross sectional study was conducted from March to May 2013. A multistage sampling technique was used to select respondents and data was collected with the aid of modified SERVQUAL questionnaires. The data was analysed with aid of EPI-INFO 2002 and statistical significance was set at a P value 0.05 for statistical significance.ResultsTotal of 400 respondents were interviewed. The mean age was 40 years with a standard deviation of 15.2 yrs. The highest mean score of 4.35 out of a possible maximum of 5 was recorded in assurance domain while the lowest mean score of 4.00 was recorded in the responsiveness domain. The overall mean score of all the domains was 4.20 with standard deviation of 0.51. Overall majority (80.8%) of respondents rated the overall service quality as good/ very good. After linear regression, the assurance domain was the most important predictor of the overall perceived service quality (p< 0.001).ConclusionThe overall perceived service quality was good. The major deficiencies were in the responsiveness domain and especially the waiting time. The hospital management should implement measures to improve the responsiveness of services by ensuring prompt delivery of services.

Purpose: To determine the compliance of patent medicine vendors (PMVs)

Aim: To determine outpatients' satisfaction with physiotherapy services in tertiary hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria. Method: This cross-sectional study utilized a simple random sampling method to recruit 284 participants. Participants responded to a 2-part structured questionnaire with 33-items on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Participants were asked questions about their satisfaction with physiotherapy services, staff attitudes, and the accessibility of outpatient physiotherapy clinics. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and w 2. Results: About 28.8% of the participants were satisfied or very satisfied with the location of the outpatient physiotherapy clinics. The majority of the participants were satisfied or very satisfied with these physiotherapy services in maintaining privacy (86.2%), scheduling convenient clinic appointments (78.2%), prompt scheduling of the first physiotherapy clinic appointment (74.6%) and subsequent visits (78.9%), and providing a calm/ relaxing atmosphere (90.1%). While 22.5% of the participants were satisfied or very satisfied with the waiting time in these physiotherapy clinics, 86.3% and 97.9% were satisfied or very satisfied with staff attitudes and the cost of the therapy, respectively. Almost all (97.9%) the participants reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their overall experience in the physiotherapy clinics. While there was an association between marital and educational status with overall satisfaction scores, age and gender showed no association. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that patients attending the outpatient physiotherapy clinics in tertiary hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria, were satisfied or very satisfied with the domain that measured overall satisfaction. Strategies to reduce the waiting time in these physiotherapy clinics and to enhance physical accessibility of the physiotherapy clinics are encouraged.