| Popis: |
To determine the perceptions/beliefs and related practices of child healthcare workers regarding teething problems in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.This cross-sectional study consisted of 103 out of 140 child healthcare workers at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex who responded to a structured self-administered questionnaire. The child healthcare workers comprised dentists, paediatricians, community health physicians, pharmacists and community health nurses. The data were analysed using STATA (Intercooled release 9) for Windows.A total of 77 (74.8%) child healthcare workers believed in systemic signs and symptoms of teething in children. A majority of the dentists (79.3%) and pharmacists (96.2%) believed in teething problems. None of them based their belief on evidence-based scientific principles, but instead on personal experience (36.4%), books (26%), local myths (20.8%) and school/workshop (16.8%). Fever (18.2%) and diarrhoea (15.6%) were the most prevalent symptoms and signs believed to be associated with teething. Fifty-seven of the child healthcare workers routinely prescribed various drugs for teething problems. The most prescribed drugs were paracetamol (70.2%), antibiotics (14.0%) and teething mixture (7.0%).Most child healthcare workers in the study believed in teething problems and the beliefs were not based on evidence. They also prescribed various drugs for teething problems. |
