Knowledge and Practice Of Patients' Referrals Among Nurses and Nurse Assistants at The Primary Health Care (PHC) Centres in Enugu, Nigeria

Abstract

Context: Poor referral mechanisms at the primary Health Care centres have been blamed for poor maternal and child health indices at such centres.. Objective: This study compares the knowledge, attitude and practices of referral among nurses and nurse assistants at the PHC centres in Enugu State, Nigeria Methodology: This was a descriptive cross sectional study. A multistage sampling method was used in selecting the study population. Survey instrument was a pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire. Results: A total of 65 PHC workers were studied. Eighteen (27.7%) and 47(72.2%) respectively were nurses and nurse assistants. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean ages of the nurses and nurse assistants. All the nurses, 18(100%) understood the meaning of referral, its advantages and methods of referral as compared to 38(80.9%) and 42(89.4%) of the nurse assistants respectively. All the nurses knew complicated pregnancy as a referable case compared to 28(59.6%) of the nurse assistants. The attitude of both the nurses and nurse assistants to referral practices were largely positive. Conclusion: The nurses and nurse assistants had good knowledge and positive attitude to referral practices. Their practices were hampered by lack of financial support, referral forms and poor feedback mechanism.

Key Words: Nurses, Nurse Assistants, referral, PHC centres, PHC workers