Background Surgical site infections (SSIs) continue the main problem in health care facilities, causing the prolonged length of stay, considerable morbidity, mortality, and the extra cost to patients after surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of SSIs and explore its associated factors among surgical patients at Hawassa university comprehensive specialized hospital, southern Ethiopia.Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among post-operative patients on a sample of 281 who were admitted and have had surgery from 1 March – 1 April 2019. Purposive sampling technique and the structured questioner were selected to gather data from the patient's medical record, interview, and observation. EPI Info 3.5.4 was a data entry software and SPSS version 20.0 was selected for analysis. Associations among variables were assessed by binary logistic regression.Result A total of 281 patients have participated and the mean age was 30.3 (±18.9) years. The prevalence of SSIs was (24.6%) (95% CI 19.6 – 29.69). Age less than 15 years AOR = 0.131 (95% CI 0.020, 0.087), having clean surgical wound AOR = 0.006 (95% CI 0.002, 0.024) were significant protective associated factors to SSIs while having open surgical wound AOR =5.189 (95% CI 1.511, 17.821) and malnutrition AOR =29.351 (95% CI 5.711, 150.851) were significant risk associated factors to SSIs.Conclusion The prevalence of SSIs was bigger than the worldwide range between (1.2%) and (5.2%) even higher compared to reports from several developing countries. This needs exceptional attention to reduce the odds of surgical site infection by standardizing patient care and controlling of comorbidities.

Background: Most of the time primary school children experience minor injuries and they always need first aid care to prevent conditions become worse and school teachers are the nearest ones to manage their minor injuries. Lack of knowledge and skills of their teachers may lead to serious health consequences. Acquiring the basic knowledge and skills of first aid can be vital for teachers to be able to provide proper emergency pre-hospital care in the event of an accident to save life and prevent avoidable consequences. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge on first aid measure and its associated factors among governmental primary school teachers in Hawassa city, southern Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted from February 4-22, 2021. Data were obtained from 213 primary school teachers selected by simple random sampling technique from eight schools using a self-administered questionnaire. Epi Info 3.5.4 was a data entry software and SPSS version 20.0 was selected for analysis. Associations among variables were assessed by binary logistic regression. Result: A small proportion of 52 (23.2%) of teachers were knowledgeable (95% CI 17.9-28.6) about first aid measures. Only 57 (21.4%) teachers had received first aid training previously. One-fourth of 56 (25%) of the respondents gave accurate responses for the need for priority for obstructed airway and only nine (4%) teachers knew the 7 essential step of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). Level of education AOR = 2.866 (95% CI 1.386, 5.925) and previous first aid training AOR = 7.216 (95% CI 3.437, 15.153) were statistically significant protective associated factors with teachers’ knowledge on first aid measures. Conclusion: A great proportion of 172 (76.8%) of primary school teachers were unknowledgeable about first aid measures which were higher compared to reports from several studies. This needs exceptional attention to train teachers periodically on first aid procedures to equip them to perform effective first aid measures to treat the common emergencies of children at school. Keywords: First aid; School children; Teachers; Knowledge; Associated factors; Ethiopia.

Background: Breast cancer remains the most common cancer and most common cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. Objectives: The main purpose of this study is to assess barriers resulting in delayed patient presentation to breast cancer care among breast cancer patients under treatment at Hawassa university comprehensive specialized hospital. This study is the first conducted in the study area. Methods: A hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study design was done from 1 Jun-30 December 2017 to answer the study objectives. All delayed 106 women under breast cancer treatment during data collection period were participated in the study. Structured data collection tool which encompass possible barriers in developing countries were applied to collect data from each study subject. Before the data collection, written ethical clearance letter was obtained from IRB of Hawassa university. Data entry was done using EPI Info 3.5.4 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 software package for analysis. Results: This study revealed that delay was multi-factorial. Of 106 delayed women to breast cancer care, (98.1%) didn't have knowledge about sign and symptom of breast cancer; (71.7%) were thinking the breast cancer lump was not dangerous enough to consult expert health professionals and (64.2%) using alternative medicines like prayer, herbal remedy or traditional healers. There was no significant statistical association found with major causes of delay and socio-demographic characteristics of the women. Conclusion: A significant percentage of women with breast cancer in Hawassa and nearby are experiencing presentation delay due socio-cultural, economic and health and health related causes. Hence, an intense and focused awareness campaign about breast cancer is needed to educate the general population by Ethiopian cancer association, Federal ministry of health, regional health offices any other concerned body.

Introduction: Effective management of postoperative pain can lead to comfort, better mobility, improved recovery and a short stay in the hospital while untreated pain has harmful impacts on the patients as hopelessness, hinder their response to treatment, and negatively affect their quality of life. Inadequate knowledge and undesirable attitudes toward postoperative pain management were reported as one of the major difficulties to implement effective pain management among nurses. Objective: The main purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of nurses towards postoperative pain management working at Hawassa University comprehensive specialized hospital. Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among two hundred three nurses working at the surgical, gynecology, obstetric wards, ophthalmic unit and operation theater from April 1-30, 2019. Data were collected through standardized worldwide accepted "Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain" (KASRP) tool it contains 37 items questionnaire of two domains: knowledge and attitude towards pain management. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. A chi-square test was done and significantly associated factors were identified. Result: One hundred and eighty-seven questionnaires were returned giving a response rate (92.1%). The mean score of correct answers was (22.5%) with a minimum and maximum score of (18.2%) and (75.4%) respectively. After categorizing the level of knowledge and attitude, (82.2 %) of nurses possessed very low knowledge and negative attitude towards postoperative pain management. Prior training on pain management (X 2 = 14.935, P=0.001) and reading of medical books or journals about pain (X 2 = 5.019, P=0.025) were significantly associated with knowledge and attitude of nurses towards post-operative pain management. Conclusion: Nurses had a very low level of knowledge and a negative attitude towards post-operative pain management. The hospital provides in-service training and avail reading medical books to improve nurse's knowledge and attitude towards post-operative pain management. The federal ministry of Health of Ethiopia enriches the pain content of the nursing curriculum.

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