Status of Caring, Respectful and Compassionate Health Care Practice in Tigray Regional State: Health Professionals’ Perspectives Mekelle, North Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Regardless of the efforts done to improve the health status of the society, globally including in Ethiopia much is required to do on the compassionate, respectful and caring aspects of the health care delivery system. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the Practice and attitude of health care professionals regarding caring, respectful and compassionate health care in Tigray regional state. Methodology: Cross-sectional study design was employed, and the study participants were 1613 health professionals working in selected health facilities of the Tigray region. The study participants were selected proportionally from each health facility using simple random sampling. The Person-centred Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT) was used to measure health professionals’ practice on patient-centred care and to measure the attitude of health care professionals a questionnaire was used. An interview has been used to collect the data and data entry was managed using Epi info version 7 then analysed using SPSS version 20. Finally, the data were presented using tables, figures and text. Results: There were 1040 (64.5%) female participants, 1497 (92.8) attended college/university level education, 1520 (94) were Tegaru by ethnicity and 1075 (66.6) were Nurses. The median age of the participants was 29 (+8.5) and the mean duration of work experience and salary were 6 (+9.3), Birr 3330 (+2238.05) respectively. Five hundred thirty (52.3%) of the female participants (health professionals), 543 (50.5%) of the nurses, 98 (64.5) of midwives, 380 (53.3) of those with work experience of 7 years and above had a good practice of caring, respectful and compassionate health care service. While poor level of practice was commonly observed among 465 (55.8) of those whose age was 29 years and above, 342 (57.1) of the male participants, 67 (57.8) from those who attended postgraduate study, 759 (50.7) from those with college/university level of education, and 77 (56.6%) of medical doctors. Conclusion: The study confirmed that the level of good compassionate, respectful and caring (CRC) practice among health professionals in the region is 48.8%, which was common among female participants, 30 and above years old, Majority of Nurses, Midwives, those who had work experience of 7 years and above. While poor CRC practice was commonly observed among the majority of younger participants (29 years and lower), Males, those who attended postgraduate study, those who had work experience of 6 years and below and those with a monthly salary of Birr 3331 and above. Furthermore, the study concluded that 63.8% of health professionals working in Tigray regional state had a good attitude towards CRC. To the contrary, poor level of attitude was observed among 43.4% of the medical doctors, the majority of anaesthesia professionals, 50% of pharmacy professionals, 39.4% of male participants, 41.1% among 29 years old and above, 43.1% with an educational level of postgraduate. Interventions like capacity building and follow up studies among health professionals of the region should be done so that the current status of CRC would be improved.

Keywords: Compassionate, respectful, caring, health professional

Cite this Article

Haftu Berhe, Hailemariam Berhe, Alemayehu Bayray. Status of Caring, Respectful and Compassionate Health Care Practice in Tigray Regional State: Health Professionals’ Perspectives Mekelle, North Ethiopia. Research & Reviews: Journal of Medical Science and Technology. 2018; 7(3): 24–32p.