Pain relief in postabortion care practiced by healthcare professionals in South Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Postabortion care (PAC) is aimed at reducing maternal morbidity and mortality resulting from the incomplete abortion and abortion complications. The use of analgesia is an integral part of high quality PAC. Knowledge of the pattern of use of analgesia in PAC by healthcare professionals would help in planning group specific training programs for more effective PAC. Aim: This study is aimed at assessing the use of analgesia in PAC among healthcare professionals in South Eastern Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey carried out among healthcare professionals in Anambra State, Nigeria between June 1 and September 30, 2006. Participants were chosen using a multistage sampling technique. Pretested questionnaires assessing the practice of postabortion counseling were then administered. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 software. Frequencies were within 95% confidence limits. Results: A total of 437 health professionals were included in the study. The mean age was 38.2 (10.4) years. Formal PAC training influenced the use of analgesia positively (P < 0.001). The use of analgesia in PAC was also significantly higher among professionals working in tertiary healthcare center and private specialist hospitals when compared with other facilities (P = 0.02). In general complications were more when analgesia was not employed. Older professionals were more likely to employ pain relief in PAC (P = 0.01). Furthermore, doctors were significantly more likely to employ pain relief in PAC when compared to nurses (P = 0.001). Conclusion: This study revealed a low level of use of analgesia in PAC among the healthcare professionals. It also demonstrated a significant association between formal PAC training and use of analgesia in PAC. It is, therefore, recommended that increased PAC training and re-training activities with emphasis on the need for analgesia should be conducted for healthcare professionals to improve the quality of PAC received by clients.