Background Louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) remains a cause of sporadic illness and occasional outbreaks in Ethiopia and other east African countries in overcrowded and unhygienic settings. In this article, we present clinical profiles and treatment outcome of patients treated as confirmed or probable cases of LBRF at Jimma Medical Center (JMC) in southwest Ethiopia. Methods Patients treated as confirmed or probable cases of LBRF at JMC during a period of May–July 2022 were prospectively followed during their course of hospital stay. All patients were evaluated with blood film for hemoparasites, complete blood count, and liver enzymes on hospital presentation. They were followed with daily clinical evaluation during their hospital stay. Result Thirty-six patients were treated as cases of LBRF. All patients except one were from Jimma Main Prison in Jimma Town, Ethiopia. All the patients were male with mean age of 28.7 years (SD = 12.7). The diagnosis of LBRF was confirmed by detection of B. recurrentis in blood film of 14 (38.9%) of the patients; the rest were treated as presumptive case of LBRF. Fever, reported by all patients, and an acute onset epistaxis, 30 (83.3%), were the major reasons for healthcare visits. Twenty-two (61.1%) patients were having thrombocytopenia with a platelet count < 150,000/μL; nine (25%) of which had severe forms (<50,000/μL). All patients were treated with oral doxycycline and discharged with improvement after a mean length of hospital stay of 4.25 days (SD = 0.77), range 2–6 days. Public health emergency was activated within two days of the first cases and helped in delousing all the cases and their contacts. Conclusion LBRF remains a public health problem in Ethiopia in settings with poor personal hygiene. Patients with LBRF may present with severe thrombocytopenia and life-threatening bleeding. Early detection and treatment initiation prevents outbreak propagation and improves treatment outcome.

BACKGROUND: Infections of the central nervous system (CNS) such as meningitis or encephalitis can be caused by myriad of microorganisms and may be life-threatening. In Ethiopia, it is an important cause of premature death and disability, being the 9th most common cause of years of life lost and loss of disability adjusted life years. The objective of this study was to estimate the cost of suspected and confirmed bacterial meningitis among inpatient managed patients at JUMC.METHODS: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 28 to September 12, 2018. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in this study. Checklists were used to collect the types of laboratory tests performed and prescribed medications. This cost of illness study was conducted from the patient perspectives. We employed a micro-costing bottom-up approach to estimate the direct cost of meningitis. The humancapital approach was used for estimating wages lost.RESULT: Among total patients admitted and treated in JUMC, higher proportions (69.8%) were suspected bacterial meningitis but have been treated as confirmed cases. Total median costs for both suspected and confirmed bacterial meningitis patients were estimated to be ETB 98,812.32 (US $ 3,593.2; IQR 1,303.0 to 5,734.0). Total median direct cost was ETB 79,248.02 (US $2,881.75; IQR 890.7 to 3,576.7). Moreover, 45.3% of the patients reported that they were either admitted or given medication at JUMC or nearby health facility before their current admissions.CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that most cases of bacterial meningitis were treated only empirically, and the cost of the treatment was high, especially for resource-limited countries like Ethiopia. To minimize the burden of meningitis and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations, the availability of diagnostic techniques is vitally important.

Background. Patient satisfaction, the concept continues to become a crucial and commonly used indicator in the sector of health care delivery for determining the quality of health care services. Satisfaction is a highly desirable outcome of clinical care and may even be an element of health status itself. Therefore, a patient’s expression of satisfaction or dissatisfaction can be considered as a judgement on the quality of care in all of its aspects, whatever its strengths and weakness. Objective. The aim of the study is to determine patient satisfaction on the quality of care and associated factors among patients admitted in Gambella General Hospital, Gambella region, southwest Ethiopia, 2020. Methods. A facility-based cross-sectional study design was conducted, and a consecutive sampling technique was used to recruit 271 study subjects among patients admitted to Gambella General Hospital. All patients who stayed at least for five days and were discharged from inpatient wards were considered for this study. A semistructured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were entered to Epi-data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS V21 for analysis. Binary logistic regression models were fitted to determine statistically significant associations between dependent and independent variables, and multivariable logistic regression with an AOR with a 95% confidence interval was fitted for candidate variables in binary logistic regression, and statistical significance was declared at p value < 0.05. Result. The proportion of net patient satisfaction among the total of 271 respondents was 40.2% (95% CI: 34.36–46.04%). Being government employees (AOR = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.02–0.27), availability signs and direction indicators (AOR = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.18–5.54), provision of adequate information on the treatments (AOR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.18–5.44), getting provider’s attention (AOR = 3.5, 95% CI: 1.65–7.24), and understanding of specific patient needs and concerns (AOR = 6.04, 95% CI: 2.8–12.88) were found to be significant predicators of patient satisfaction on the quality of care. Conclusion. Less than half of the patients were satisfied with the quality of service delivered in the wards of the hospital. Occupation, signs and directions to follow, getting adequate information about treatment, providers’ attention, and understanding of specific needs and concerns of the patients were the significant factors. Thus, we would recommend that the hospital management should closely work together with health professionals, supportive staff, patients, and other concerned stakeholders to improve admitted patients’ satisfaction with the quality of care. Policymakers advised to develop and institutionalize better interpersonal relations in the health system.

Background Medical equipment are vital items to deliver quality services in health facilities and the role of medical equipment is a well-founded reality. It is mainly used in many diverse settings in hospitals to diagnose, treat illnesses; support disabled and intervened acute and chronic cases. Effective maintenance and proper management are major utilization issues to provide quality services while saving scarce resources. However, managing medical equipment, especially, the utilization phase of medical equipment, was not well studied in this general hospital. Objective This study aims to assess the utilization of medical devices in Tulu Bolo General Hospital. Methods The study was conducted from December 25, 2021 to February 9, 2022. Data sources included health professionals and document archives in the hospital. Data collection method includes questionnaires and observations checklists. A census of 165 health workers was conducted, with a response rate 94.5%. Data was entered into epi-data; version 3.1, then analyzed by SPSS version 23 and presented using descriptive statistics. Results Procurement, storage, and utilization were found to be 53.47%, 56.57%, and 45.88%, respectively. Only 114 (57.3%) of the 199 pieces of medical equipment discovered were functional. Pearson correlation indicated that procurement and utilization of medical equipment are related to a higher proportion of non-functional devices (P = 0.000, B1 = 1.47, OR = 4.349, and CI 95% = 2.047–9.241) and nonfunctional medical equipment (B2 = 0.790, OR = 2.203, and CI 95% = 1.065–4.556) for procurement and utilization, respectively. Conclusion Procurement, storage, and utilization of available medical equipment in Tulu Bolo Hospital were low. While health sectors operating in a resource-limited were assumed to have a big shortage of medical technologies, procurement, storage, and utilization of the limited available medical equipment need the attention of health program managers.