Self-referral patterns among federal civil servants in oyo state, South-Western Nigeria

Autor: Henry Okoli, Taiwo Obembe, Kayode Osungbade, Folashayo Adeniji, David Adewole
Jazyk: English<br />French
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Pan African Medical Journal, Vol 26, Iss 105 (2017)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1937-8688
DOI: 10.11604/pamj.2017.26.105.11483
Popis: INTRODUCTION: primary health care is widely accepted as the first point of care seeking; yet, individuals requiring healthcare engage in self-referrals to higher levels of care thereby by-passing primary care. Little is known of the extent to which self-referrals are carried out when care is needed. This study thus sought to determine the prevalence of self-referral, its patterns and factors influencing self-referrals amongst federal civil servants in Southwestern Nigeria. METHODS: a cross-sectional study was carried out among 300 federal civil servants who were interviewed using validated and pre-tested interviewer-administered semi structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed using univariate and Chi-square test at level of significance set at P =0.05. RESULTS: mean age of the respondents was 39.96 9.1 years with majority being married (80.7%); 90.7% completed tertiary education (and 76.7 % were middle grade (7-12) level officers. Most (60.0%) of the respondents had ever engaged in self-referral. Malaria was the commonest health problem (39.7%) for self-referral to secondary or tertiary facilities. Desire for quality service (35.7%) and competent staff (35.2%) were the commonest reasons for self-referral to a higher level of health care. More female respondents (76.0%) compared to male respondents (64.0%) significantly engaged in self-referral (p = 0.02, X2 = 5.14). Respondents having good knowledge of referral practices engaged less in self-referral compared to those with poor knowledge. (p = 0.02, X2 = 5.43). CONCLUSION: having good knowledge of referral practices and being male are positively associated with referral practices. Creating awareness and improving knowledge on referral practices with special emphasis on women population are desirable strategies for encouraging the use of primary health care as first of point of contact with health systems.
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