Pneumonia, oxygen therapy, and amoxicillin dispersible tablets: a practice awareness study among Health Care Workers in three districts in the Eastern Region of Ghana

Abstract

Background: The safe administration of Oxygen Therapy (OT) with appropriate monitoring is an integral component of the Health Care
Workers’ (HCWs) role. However, research suggests that HCWs lack adequate knowledge and practice on how to use oxygen delivery
equipment appropriately.
Objective: To assess practice awareness (i.e., Knowledge, Attitude and Practice) of Health Care Workers (HCWs) regarding pneumonia, OT,
and awareness of Amoxicillin Dispersible Tablets (Amox DT) in case management of children aged below five years
Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional study design involving 356 randomly selected HCWs in public and private (self-financing
and faith-based) health facilities in three districts (i.e., New Juaben North, New Juaben South, and Lower Manya Krobo) in the Eastern Region
of Ghana. The study adopted both univariate and multivariate data analysis involving Robust Ordinary Least Square and Logistic regression
analysis for continuous and binary outcomes, respectively. All analyses were performed using Stata 16.1, and p < 0.05 was deemed statistically
significant.
Results: The age of the participants ranged from 22 - 79 years, and the mean ± SD was 31.4 ± 1.7 years. There were more females
(approximately 80% versus 17%) than males. The overall levels of practice awareness related to oxygen therapy were 45.8% (95% CI = 42.2
- 49.3), 41.4% (95% CI = 39.9 - 42.9), and 32.9% (95% CI = 30.2 - 35.7), respectively for knowledge, attitude and practice. Likewise, the
overall practice awareness related to pneumonia was 69.2% (95% CI = 67.5 - 70.7), 89.2% (95% CI = 87.2 - 91.2) and 66.0% (95% CI = 63.7
- 68.3), respectively. Practice awareness regarding OT and pneumonia was significantly influenced by the level of the facility, category, and
education level of the HCW. The Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI) training workshop did not have a
significant influence on the practice awareness regarding OT and pneumonia.
Conclusion: The level of practice awareness on the management of pneumonia in children was low (approximately one-third of HCW). Inservice training on IMNCI increased the level of awareness of Amox DT but not on OT for the management of pneumonia