ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS WORKING AT WOLITA SODDO HEALTH FACILITIES, SNNPRS OF ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Background: Communication in healthcare organization is an important factor to have quality care, patient safety and financial function. However, there were of dearth of evidences on the organizational communication skills of healthcare providers in Ethiopia including the current study area, Wolita Sodo. Objectives: To assess the level of organizational communication skills and its associated factors among healthcare providers working at Wolita Soddo health facilities, SNNPRS, Ethiopia. Methods An institutional based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 369 randomly selected healthcare providers working at Wolita Sodo health facilities from September 1 – 30, 2022. A pretested and structured questionnaire was utilized using self- administered method. Data were entered in to Epi data version 3.1 and analyzed using STATA version 17.0. Binary logistic regression analysis was carried to identify factors associated with outcome variables. Accordingly, variables that fulfilled p-values <0.25 on the bivariate logistic regression were considered as a candidate for multivariate logistic regression to control for possible confounders. Odds ratio along with 95% confidence interval was used to present the finding and statistical significance was reported at p-value <0.05. Result: In the current study, around 45.8% (95% CI: 40.9, 50.7) of the health professional experienced good organizational communication skills. Male [AOR=2.29; 95% CI=1.38, 3.82], had training on communication skills [AOR=2.30; 95% CI=1.46, 3.63], and working at laboratory [AOR=3.22; 95% CI=1.07, 9.65] were significantly associated with organizational communication skills. Conclusion and recommendation: In this study less than half of the study participants practiced good organizational communication skill. Sex, training on communication skills, and working unit were important factors affecting communication skills of healthcare providers. Interventions to improve communication skills of healthcare providers should be instituted targeting females, those who had never taken training on communication skills and those who are working at ward.