Patients’ satisfaction with ophthalmic counselling services in a tertiary hospital in Calabar, South-South Nigeria

Objective: To assess the level of satisfaction of patients who access the Ophthalmic counselling services anchored by trained social workers of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, NigeriaMethods: A cross-sectional study of serial consenting participants was done. Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Calabar Teaching hospitals’ ethics committee. Data was obtained using a semi-structured intervieweradministeredquestionnaire. Data were collated and analyzed using the SPSS for Windows (version 20, SPSS inc. Chicago, IL, USA). Modified Likert scale (very satisfied, satisfied and not satisfied) was used to rate the satisfaction level.Results: A total of 120 respondents met the inclusion criteria and were enrolled into the study. Majority of the respondents (60%) were male with an overall mean age of 45.32± 1.82. Over a quarter (28.3%) of the respondents were in the age bracket of 41-50. Glaucoma (48.3%) was the most common eye condition of the respondents. Seventy-five percent of the respondents were satisfied with the average time spent for the counselling services while 76.7% were satisfied with the overall ophthalmic counselling services they received with 46.7% believing that the service was provided by a social worker.Conclusion: Majority of the Patients were satisfied with the Ophthalmic counselling services mainly anchored by social workers. Training and retraining of allied support staff to render ophthalmic counselling services in order to ease the workload of the Ophthalmologist should be encouraged in resource-limited settings.Keywords: Patients satisfaction, ophthalmic counselling service, NigeriaFunding: None declare

Ebola virus disease: assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of nursing students of a Nigerian University

Background: Ebola virus disease has a high case fatality rate. Health care providers have a key role to play in its management and prevention.Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding Ebola virus disease (EVD) among students of Nursing in the University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. A semi-structured,self-administered questionnaire was administered to 178 nursing students. The respondents were selected using systematic random sampling.Results: Lecturers were the commonest source of information regarding EVD as reported by 84.5% of the respondents followed by television (76.3%). Nearly 27% of respondents indicated that the fear of EVD had dampened their interest and enthusiasm in the nursing profession. Nearly 12 % indicated that they would not take part as theatre nurses in the surgical operation of a patient who had been certified cured of EVD. A similar proportion indicated their unwillingness to attend to a woman in labour even if she had been certified cured of EVD.Conclusion: Majority of the students were knowledgeable about EVD. Although majority of them had favorable attitude towards EVD patients, there was evidence of stigmatizing and discriminatory attitude that needs to be addressed.Keywords: Ebola, infection, virus, disease, haemorrhagic, fever, Nigeria

Ebola virus disease: assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of nursing students of a Nigerian University

Background: Ebola virus disease has a high case fatality rate. Health care providers have a key role to play in its management and prevention. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding Ebola virus disease (EVD) among students of Nursing in the University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. A semi-structured,self-administered questionnaire was administered to 178 nursing students. The respondents were selected using systematic random sampling. Results: Lecturers were the commonest source of information regarding EVD as reported by 84.5% of the respondents followed by television (76.3%). Nearly 27% of respondents indicated that the fear of EVD had dampened their interest and enthusiasm in the nursing profession. Nearly 12 % indicated that they would not take part as theatre nurses in the surgical operation of a patient who had been certified cured of EVD. A similar proportion indicated their unwillingness to attend to a woman in labour even if she had been certified cured of EVD. Conclusion: Majority of the students were knowledgeable about EVD. Although majority of them had favorable attitude towards EVD patients, there was evidence of stigmatizing and discriminatory attitude that needs to be addressed

Evaluation of Competence of Medical Students in Performing Direct Ophthalmoscopy

Aim: The aim was to determine the competence of medical students in performing direct ophthalmoscopy. Materials and Methods: It was a cross‑sectional study whereby year 5 medical students were assessed during Objective Structure Clinical Examination (OSCE) at the end of 4 weeks clinical rotation in ophthalmology. Every student had 5 min in each OSCE station, including the station for direct ophthalmoscopy. The correctness or otherwise of students’ quantitative assessment of cup‑disc ratio (CDR) was analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS, USA) version 20.0. Result: A total of 96 students were assessed in 6 groups over a 6 months period; age range was 20–33 years and a mean age of 24.8 ± 3.2. There were 57 males and 39 females (M:F = 1:0.25). Seventy‑eight (81.3%) were satisfied with teachings and tutorials on direct ophthalmoscopy. Eighty‑nine (92.7%) admitted visualizing the disc in the course of tutelage while 7 (7.3%) had never seen the disc with the direct ophthalmoscope. The retinal vessels were seen with the ophthalmoscope by 93 (96.9%). Direct Ophthalmoscopy was not considered to be difficult by 87(90.6%). Forty‑six (47.9%) got CDR correct on the right eyes while 50 (52.1%) got it correct on the left eyes. There was statistically significant relationship between the group students belonged and performance with 2 = <0.001. Conclusion: Based on the CDR benchmark, students’ performance was not satisfactory.Keywords: Direct ophthalmoscopy, medical curricula, medical students, ophthalmic educatio