Nurses knowledge and practice towards malaria case management in Lusaka Urbarn clinics.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine Nurses' knowledge and practice towards malaria case management in Lusaka urban clinics and this is the general objective. Literature review was conducted globally, regionally and locally and it was based on malaria case management. The review showed that in Zambia, malaria continues to be the major cause of visitations to the health facilities. This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study that was carried out in September, 2007 in Lusaka Urban Clinics. Fifty (50) respondents who were nurses working in the health centres at the time of the study were conveniently selected to participate in the study. The four (4) health centres selected were Civic centre, Chilenje, Kabwata and Kamwala clinics. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents on malaria case management. Before undertaking the main study, a pilot study was conducted at University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in August, 2007 in order to test the instrument after which necessary changes were made to the study instrument The study was conducted between 3rd and 21st September, 2007. Data was analysed manually using a data master sheet and the information was presented in frequency tables, pie charts and bar charts. The results of the evaluation of Nurses' knowledge and practice towards malaria case management in Lusaka Urban revealed that most of the respondents (46%) were within the age 30 to 39 years old. Majority (72%) of the respondents were Enrolled nurses. Most (78%) of them were married. Twenty-six percent (26%) of these respondents had been in service between 6 and 10 years and another 26% had served for a period of 11 to 15 years. All (100%) of the respondents had nursed a client with malaria before. The study revealed that there was inadequate knowledge and bad practice regarding malaria case management among nurses in Lusaka Urban.