Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude of Epidural Analgesia and Associated Factors among Healthcare Professionals in Obstetric Department At Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma, 2022 G.C.

Abstract

Background; Labor pain is the most painful and stressful natural experience of a mother’s life. Management of labor pain has great effect on the mother’s experience and future possible health seeking behavior. Although there are various methods of managing the pain, these practices are not yet common in our setup. Anecdotal data at Jimma university medical center showed possible lack of understanding about epidural analgesia among health care providers which may result in low performance and prevent its applicability as labor analgesia in the obstetrics set up. At Jimma university medical center this study can help us develop understanding of the current knowledge and attitude affecting its practice and build baseline data to expand the practice of anesthesiology while making the labor experience painless for mothers. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of epidural analgesia and associated factors among obstetric healthcare professionals in Jimma university medical center, Jimma, Ethiopia, 2022 G.C. Method: Institution-based, prospective cross-sectional study design was conducted from September to November, 2022 G.C in JUMC among 124 obstetric healthcare professionals. Descriptive and logistic regression analysis was used to show the association of the dependent and independent variables at a P-value of ≤0.05 cut off point to declare significance. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were computed to determine the strength of association. Result and conclusion: More than half of obstetric health care professionals had poor knowledge and unfavorable attitude towards epidural labor analgesia. There were statistically significant association between knowledge as well as attitude and variables like level of education and current place of work. Recommendation: There is a need to improve obstetric health care professional’s knowledge and attitude towards epidural labor analgesia through education and training.