Background: An emerging respiratory disease was abbreviated as COVID 19, after it has been first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan city of China. The virus is zoonotic which has a tendency to be transmitted between animal to human and human to human. The major route of transmission of COVID-19 is droplet and close contact. Ethiopian ministry of health has initiated training for health care workers at a different level. WHO and CDC also initiated a multidisciplinary approach to tackle COVID-19 of which awareness creation is the main. Thus, the main objective of this study is to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices of health workers in Ethiopia towards COVID-19 and its prevention techniques.Method: an institutional-based multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in each of eight teaching and referral hospitals. A total of 422 Ethiopian healthcare workers were selected for the assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19. Socio-demographic characteristics and data related to the KAP of the participants were collected using a structured questionnaire Logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with the attitude and knowledge of healthcare workers towards COVID-19 at a significance level of p<0.05.Result: Three hundred ninety-seven healthcare workers participated in the study with a response rate of 94%. Among these, 88.2% and 94.7% of respondents had good knowledge and positive attitude respectively. A respondent with history of chronic medical illness (OR: 0.193, 95% CI: 0.063-0.593), social media, telecommunication, and television/radio as a source of information were significantly associated with knowledge (OR: 3.4, 95% CI: 1.5-7.4, OR: 4.3, 95% CI: 1.3-14.3 and OR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.4-7.2). Additionally respondent with history of chronic medical illness was significantly associated with negative attitude towards COVID-19.Conclusion: The overall level of knowledge and attitude was good. However, the practice was relatively low. Source of information like social media, telecommunication, and television/radio were positively associated with healthcare workers' knowledge about COVID-19. Strategies for enhancing the capacity of healthcare workers to develop practice are needed.Keyword: COVID-19, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Healthcare worker, Ethiopia

Background: An emerging respiratory disease abbreviated as coronavirus disease 2019 was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan city of China. The virus is zoonotic and tends to be transmitted between animals to humans and humans to humans. The major route of transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 is droplet and close contact. The Ethiopian Ministry of Health has initiated training for health care workers at a different level. Thus, the main objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health workers in Ethiopia toward coronavirus disease 2019 and its prevention techniques. Method: An institution-based multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in each of eight teaching and referral hospitals. A total of 422 Ethiopian healthcare workers were selected for the assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice toward coronavirus disease 2019. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. A logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with the attitude and knowledge of healthcare workers toward coronavirus disease 2019 at a significance level of p < 0.05. Result: Three hundred ninety-seven healthcare workers participated in the study, with a response rate of 94%. Among these, 88.2% and 94.7% of respondents had good knowledge and positive attitudes, respectively. A respondent with a history of chronic medical illness (odds ratio: 0.193, 95% confidence interval: 0.063–0.593), social media, telecommunication, and television/radio as a source of information were significantly associated with knowledge (odds ratio: 3.4, 95% confidence interval: 1.5–7.4, OR: 4.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.3–14.3 and odds ratio: 3.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.4–7.2). In addition, respondents with a history of chronic medical illness were significantly associated with a negative attitude toward coronavirus disease 2019. Conclusion: The knowledge and attitude were good while; the practice was relatively low. Sources of information such as social media, telecommunication, and television/radio were positively associated with healthcare workers' knowledge about coronavirus disease 2019.

Background: Prurius is the most common reason that obstetrics receive a treatment after intrathecal opioids. Which is characterized by an unpleasant, localized and/or generalized sensation on the skin and mucous membranes. It deserves the same degree of clinical attention as pain. Its incidence is 30–100% and having special increment in case of obstetric patients 60–100%. Methods: Institution based double blinded randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted in 93 patients undergoing cesarean section under spinal anesthesia with 25 μg fentanyl and 12.5 mg bupivacaine were included. Data was entered by coding and analyzed by using SPSS version 20 software package and pruritus was analyzed using cross-tabulation (chi-square test) and presented in frequency and percentage. Severity of pruritus was compared by using Mann Whitney U test for statistical significant difference between groups. P-value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant at power of 80%. Results: The comparison of data showed that the incidences of pruritus in treatment group (14%) were significantly reduced with compared to placebo group (36%) approximately by 2.6 times at p-value (0.01). The overall severity of pruritus was mild (85.7% vs 47.4%), moderate (14.3% vs 47.4%) and severe (0.0% vs. 5.3%) between ondansetron and placebo groups respectively but not statistically significant. Conclusions: Prophylactic use of IV ondansetron significantly reduced the incidence of intrathecal fentanyl induced pruritus compared to placebo groups in patients undergoing cesarean section under spinal anesthesia. Highlights:

Introduction The pain after thyroid surgery is considered of moderate intensity and short duration. Most trials showed significant reduction in pain intensity and severity of pain in patients for whom bilateral superficial cervical plexus block (BSCPB) was done. Objective To assess the postoperative analgesic effect of BSCPB for thyroid surgery. Methods Sixty six euthyroid patients were recruited and assigned to two groups (33 patients each). Group 1 BSCPB and Group 2 standard analgesia. The unpaired Student's t-test and Mann–Whitney test were used for comparison. Statistical significance was stated at p value < 0.05. Results The median postoperative pain score (NRS) was 3 in the BSCPB group and 5 in the control group (p=0.002). There was also statistically significant difference at 6th, 12th, and 24th hour showing a lower median pain score in the BSCPB group compared to the control group. The median time was (360 minutes) in the treatment group and (180 minutes) in the control group (p=0.0006). The median tramadol consumption within 24 hours is 0 mg in the BSCPB group compared to 100 mg in the control group (p=0.001). Conclusion and Recommendation BSCPB done for thyroidectomy under general anesthesia decreases the postoperative pain score, total analgesia consumption, and time to first analgesia request.

Background: Pain is one of the most common complaints and causes of distress in the perioperative period. The postoperative pain after cesarean section is believed to be of mild to moderate intensity lasting for up to 72 h. Apart from patient preferences, several factors affect choices of analgesia in a resource-limited setting like Ethiopia. Availability of resources, trained manpower, and inter-individual variation in pain threshold was among the factors affecting analgesia choices. Thus, this study aims to compare TAP block versus II/IH block for post-cesarean delivery analgesia in resource-limited areas where the ultrasound-guided block is not practiced. Method: A randomized controlled trial study was conducted in Dilla university referral hospital. Pregnant women scheduled for elective cesarean section were randomized to either TAP block (n = 36) or II/IH block (n = 36) for postoperative pain management. The sample size was calculated using a G-power version 3.1.9.2 getting a total of 72 participants. Pain severity, total tramadol consumption, and time to first analgesic request were assessed during the first 72 h postoperatively. Manny Whitney U-test and independent t-test were used based on the distribution of data. A Kaplan Meier analysis was used to assess' proportion of patients who did not require analgesia for a 48 h follow up period. Result: The cumulative median tramadol consumption over 48 h were 100 mg for TAP group and 150 mg for II/IH (p = 0.018). The median tramadol consumption at 24hr. and 36 h were also lower in the TAP group compared to II-IH (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between groups regarding time to first analgesia request (p > 0.05). The median pain score at 36hr. and 48hr. were lower in the TAP group (3 and 4) compared to the II-IH group (4 and 6) respectively (p < 0.05). There is no statistically significant difference between groups regarding the postoperative side effects and complications. Conclusion: Both II-IH and TAP block had comparable analgesic efficacy during the first 24hr. TAP block had longer analgesic effectiveness compared to II-IH with an effect lasting for 48hr. Highlights: