Process Evaluation of Decontamination, Cleaning and Sterilization of Medical Instruments at Public Health Centers of Mekelle Zone, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2018

Abstract

Byin Tewolde, Alem Desta and Mengistu Mitiku

Background: Today Health Care Associated Infections are the major public health problems in majority of develop- ing world including Ethiopia. The use of disposable equipment is the best way to ensure patient comfort and security, however, low income country health system could not acquire disposable format for certain devices due to the cost. Then some instruments need to be sterilized for re-use. In this study we have evaluated the sterilization status of medical instruments.

Method: Descriptive study design was employed in this evaluation study. The evaluation was conducted in 147 health care workers and nine public health centers of Mekelle zone from January to June, 2017. Systematic random sam- pling method was conducted to select study participants. In the quantitative part, observation of health care workers’ practice and availability of materials were conducted using checklists. As a complement, key informant interviews were also conducted. Collected quantitative data were checked, coded and entered into SPSS version 20 for analysis. Frequencies, Mean, percentage, tables were used for results presentation.

Result: Availability, compliance and safety of health care workers’ dimensions were used to evaluate the implemen- tation of the intervention. Accordingly, availability of resources in the studied health centers has been rated as good (74.2%). And compliance level of health care workers has found to be fair (66.1%). However, practice of safety by the health care workers has found to be poor (48%).

Conclusion: According the judgment criteria, the overall implementation status of decontamination, cleaning and sterilization service has been rated as fair (63.4%).

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