Publications

Cesarean section is a recognized intervention in complicated births when the safety of the mother or baby iscompromised. In Uganda, post-operative caesarean care has seen an ascending trend where out of the mothers whodeliver by Cesarean section a number of them develop complications like sepsis attributed to a number ofdemographic and health care system related factors. This study sought to gain a better understanding of driversand challenges to POC, underlying complications after cesarean section among mothers and staff at ARRH. In total,328 mothers and 24 staff were recruited for the study. Data was collected, coded, and entered into Epi info version7, then exported to SPSS version 22.0 for analysis using a structured interviewer/self-administeredquestionnaire/checklist. To determine factors associated with POC complications, bivariate and multivariate logisticregression analyses were performed. To control for confounding, variables with a p - value of 0.2 in a bivariateanalysis were included in a multivariate logistic regression model. To determine the strength of the association,AOR with corresponding 95 percent confidence intervals (CI) were computed, and a p-value of 0.05 was consideredstatistically significant. The majority of the mothers were aged 21 – 25 years 132 (40.3%), had attained primarylevel education 187 (57.0%) and had gotten pregnant atleast once 265 (80.8%). The most common minor POCcomplications observed amongst the mothers was Mild anemia (25.6%), Mild fever 24h after surgery (19.8%) andWound hematoma or infection (11.6%) whereas the most common severe POC complications observed were severeanemia (11.0%) and Sepsis (6.7%). All (100%) the health care staff were following standard procedures of postoperativecare while attending to mothers and had attended recent Continuing medical education. History of Csectionbirth was a significant factor of POC complications AOR [3.6, 95% CI (1.0–9.4)] p-value 0.042. The mostcommon minor POC complications amongst the mothers receiving POC care were mild anaemia, mild fever 24hafter surgery and wound hematoma or infection whereas the most common severe POC complications observedwere severe anaemia and Sepsis. All healthcare workers that provide POC to mothers followed an institutionalizedstandard operating procedure and had updated knowledge through recent continuing medical education. History ofdelivery by C-section significantly predisposed mothers to post-operative care complications