A Journey Through Rural Community Radiography Practice in South-South Nigeria: Radiographers’ Perception, Willingness and Barriers

Abstract

Introduction: The lack of healthcare professionals and their retention in rural areas has become a serious concern to the health sector globally. Retaining health staff in rural areas has proven difficult as young professionals prefer urban postings. This study aimed to assess radiographers perception and willingness to work in rural areas of Rivers State. Method: This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among radiographers in Rivers State. The participants socio-demographic variables and their responses to willingness and perception to work in rural areas were obtained and analyzed. Results: Only few 30% (n=12) of the respondents were willing to work in the rural areas of Rivers state. However, the majority of 95 %(n=38) of the respondents perceived extra payment as an incentive for them to be willing to work in the rural areas of this study location. Most 88 %(n=35) of the respondents perceived unfavorable working conditions in rural areas as a barrier to their willingness. A large proportion of 55 %( n=22) of the respondents stated that their marital status was a barrier to working in rural areas. More than half (85%, n=34) of the respondents perceived poor accommodation as a barrier to working in rural areas. The majority 88% (n=35) of the respondents stated that militant activities was a barrier to their willingness to work in the rural areas of Rivers State. There were statistically significant relationships between the evaluated respondents socio-demographic variables gender (χ2 = 48.000, p = 0.000), years of working experience (χ2 = 47.500, p = 0.000), marital status (χ2 = 84.966, p = 0.000) and age (χ2 = 76.758, p = 0.021) and their willingness to work in the rural areas of Rivers State. Conclusion: The key findings suggest that the majority of the Radiographers were not willing to work in the rural areas of Rivers State. The reasons adduced for their strong disinclination were based on their perception of unfavorable working conditions in the rural areas. Nonetheless, they were of the opinion that financial inducement could influence their willingness to work in rural areas.

Healthcare facilities’ level of preparedness response on COVID-19 preventive measures in selected regions of Tanzania: A perspective of healthcare workers

“…Improvements in provision of supplies and preventive measures are urgently needed in the face of the current pandemic. This is supported by another study [5] that, most countries have facilitated the transmission and spread of the disease due to inadequate preventive and/or mitigating strategies and many countries failed to prevent the epidemic in the beginning by delaying preventive measures. The study in Sierra Leone [4] found related results that, HCWs are of the view that their healthcare facilities are not well prepared to adequately respond to COVID-19 break.…”

“…Although delayed government response, inadequate infrastructures, and lack of biosafety and biosecurity awareness have also contributed to the transmission and spread of COVID-19 disease [24]. Other studies [5,6] further revealed that, the fear of healthcare workers towards COVID-19 pandemic is reinforced by inadequate work place safety and inadequate hospital infection prevention and control policy. Consequently, majority of the participants strongly agreed that there was high possibility of getting the infection in the hospitals.…”

“…In Sierra Leone the study found that, healthcare facilities are not well prepared to adequately respond to COVID-19 break [4]. Fear of healthcare workers towards COVID-19 pandemic is reinforced by inadequate work place safety and inadequate hospital infection prevention and control policy [5,6].…”