Determinants of Practice of Periodic Medical Check-Up among Hospital Workers in a Tertiary Health Centre, North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Periodic Medical Checkup (PMC) is essential as it helps detect medical conditions early even before the symptoms appear. The significance of this is that such diseases are tackled early reducing morbidity and mortality. The practice of PMC has been poor among so many groups in society. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the factors that determine the practice of PMC among healthcare workers. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study involving two hundred and fifty (250) Healthcare workers in Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, recruited, using a stratified random sampling technique was carried out. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and perception of the practice of PMC, the practice of PMC, medical history, and lifestyle of the respondents. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Only two hundred and twenty respondents filled and returned their questionnaires giving a response rate of 88%. Most (44.1%) were aged between 40 – 45 years, males made up 53.6% and 91.4% had tertiary education. The senior staff made up 86.8% and most (56.4%) had been working for 10 – 19 years. Two hundred and eighteen (99.1%) had knowledge of PMC and one hundred and sixty-nine (76.8%) practiced PMC. Conclusion: Having knowledge of any PMC done in the hospital and awareness of existing PMC policy were the independent predictors determining the practice of Periodic Medical Checkup. Those who knew of any PMC and were aware of an existing policy on Periodic Medical Checkup were more likely to practice Periodic Medical Checkup than the others.