Assessment of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Health Care service Availability and Readiness in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Health Care Centers in Addis Ababa.

Abstract

Background :Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgery, also called Otorhinolaryngology, is a surgical specialty concerned with the diagnosis, evaluation and management of head, neck, ear, nose and throat diseases [1].services being given in ENT range from simple diagnostic tests to advanced diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The status of ENT service in Ethiopia is not well known and there are no researches so far done to show ENT health and health care service. But studies done in 2009 on survey of ENT service in sub Saharan Africa in which Ethiopia is included has shown an alarming paucity of the services. Objective :To assess ENT health care service availability and Readiness in primary, Secondary and Tertiary health Care Centers in Addis Ababa. Method:A cross-sectional study design was used to conduct study on 31 governmental health institutions. All of 13 hospitals are included due to their small number and importance. Health centers are selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using face to face interview questionnaire between April 15, 2019 to May 30, 2019 period. Descriptive statistics of percentages and frequency distributions of study variables was carried out using tables. Ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional review board of SPHMMC after the proposal was reviewed and approved . Result:Percentages of Health institutions offering ENT Services were 22.6%.All of this services were available in the Hospitals. None of the health facilities had ENT treatment Guideline, trained nurses, Audiologists. In 87.8% of Health centers, ENT problems were managed by Clinical nurses and Health officers who don‘t have additional ENT training course. Head and Neck subspecialty service was available in only one referral hospital. Speech therapy service was being given in only one General hospital. None of the health centers had all diagnostic ENT OPD equipment. Most of the hospitals who offer ENT service had diagnostic equipment in their OPD but surgical equipment was inadequate. Conclusion and Recommendation: The result of this study has shown the presence of inadequate ENT service provision and most of ENT problems were managed by Non-ENT specialists. Most of Hospitals who offer ENT service had lack of trained health professionals, Treatment Guideline, Audiology tests, adequate surgical equipment, and subspecialty services. Hence, Responsible bodies should act to strengthen ENT health care delivery by training staffs, preparing guideline, and availing diagnostic and surgical equipment