Background Adverse pregnancy outcomes remain a prevalent health problem in Ethiopia. Mothers’ use of preconception care service has the potential to avert many of the adverse outcomes. However, the use of this service and its determinants is not well investigated. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the utilization and determinants of preconception care among recently delivered mothers. Methods A community based cross-sectional design was conducted among 564 recently delivered mothers in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia. A multi stage cluster sampling technique was employed. Data was collected using a pre-tested, structured interviewer questionnaire and was entered in to Epi-Info™ Version 7 and analyzed using SPSS™ Version 20.0. Descriptive, bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the association. Results This study revealed that, 102(18.2%) of the mothers had utilized preconception care. Mothers’ knowledge on preconception care (AOR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.03, 4.73), prior experience of adverse birth outcomes (AOR: 5.10; 95% CI: 2.31, 11.24), history of chronic health problems (AOR: 5.69; 95% CI: 2.06, 15.72), husband’s support (AOR: 13.84; 95% CI: 6.02, 31.79), and challenges in accessing a health facility (AOR: 0.24; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.48) were significantly associated with preconception care service utilization. Conclusion Mothers’ utilization of preconception care is low. Mothers knowledge on preconception care, experience of adverse birth outcome, having chronic health problems and husband support increases utilization of preconception care. However, mothers who experienced challenges in visiting a health facility showed decrease preconception care utilization. Therefore, increased efforts are need in terms of advocating for involvement of husband’s and awareness creation respecting preconception care services for all women.

Background Health professionals are challenged with physical, chemical, and psychological hazards. The major areas in which nurses perform hazardous tasks were are injection, cleaning, patient care, bed making, cleaning and dressing of wounds, medication administration, and performing operations. During performing these activities, healthcare providers are exposed to many types of occupational hazards. So, there is a dearth of information on the prevalence of occupational hazards among nursing and midwifery students in this study area. Objective This study aims to assess exposure to occupational health hazards among nursing and midwifery students during clinical practice at Mekelle University. Methods Institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from February to June 2017. The study participants were selected nursing and midwifery students of Mekelle University who had ever been attached for clinical practice. A sample of 151 students was recruited by a simple random sampling technique proportionate to their size. The data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The collected data were coded, entered, and cleaned by SPSS version 22 for analysis. Finally, the result was presented in the form of text, table, and figures. Results A total of 151 students had participated with a response rate of 100%. The prevalence of psychosocial hazards, mechanical hazards, biological hazards, and physical hazards was 140 (92.7%), 128 (84.8%), 100 (66.2%), and 100 (66.2%), respectively. About 46 (29.8%) had good knowledge, and 57 (37.7%) of them had poor knowledge of the occupational hazard. Conclusion and Recommendation Psychosocial hazard was the most common occupational hazard among nursing and midwifery students. The majority of the students have poor knowledge concerning occupational hazards. To build a skilled nurse and midwife, it is mandatory to train all students before clinical practice about safe work practices and proper use of personal protective equipment.

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