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KNOWLEDGE OF CERUMEN AND EFFECT OF EAR SELF-CLEANING AMONG HEALTH WORKERS IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL
S M Oladeji1, O T Babatunde2, L B Babatunde3
1Ear, Nose and Throat Unit, Dept of Surgery, Ben Carson College of Medicine/Babcock University Teaching Hospital, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun state, Nigeria.
Background:
Ear wax lubricates, cleans and protects the external auditory canal while ear self-cleaning can lead to ear infections, trauma and perforation of the tympanic membrane. An erroneous understanding of these facts can lead to wrong practices with grievous consequences.
Objective:
To assess the knowledge on ear wax and the effects of ear self-cleaning among health workers in Nigeria.
Materials And Methods:
A cross-sectional study was done on health workers in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria with administration of structured questionnaire. Knowledge of the participants on the effect of ear self-cleaning were classified as poor, fair or good based on the calculation of their knowledge score.
Results:
Out of 150 respondents, 10.7% of them had good knowledge of ear wax and the health effects of self-ear cleaning while 51.3% had poor knowledge. There was strong association between knowledge score and occupation (x2=24.113, P=0.007), while there was no association between knowledge score and practice of ear self-cleaning.
Conclusion:
Most respondents had poor knowledge of the function of ear wax and the damage to the auditory canal associated with ear self-cleaning. There is thus, the need for public enlightenment on the complications of the practice.
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