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Background. There exist continuing challenges with communication medium used during health service provision. These challenges relate to clients and health institution, intra- and interhealth institution communications. This study reviewed the existing healthcare communication medium from the perspectives of clients and health professionals at a tertiary hospital in Ghana. Methods. Cross-sectional design was employed with a multilevel sampling method to select a total of 650 participants consisting of 303 clients, 303 health workers, and 44 hospital directorate managers for the study. A structured survey questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Results. Close to ninety percent (89.8%) of staff resort to direct means (face-to-face medium) to communicate among each other. Majority (64.4%) of them also communicated with management through meetings sections. Nearly all healthcare providers (97.4%) communicated with clients through direct means (face-to-face medium). Almost all forms of communication between the hospital management members and the general public were done through letters and official memos. Conclusions. The study revealed blended forms of communication media used by health providers and health service consumers. These differences in medium of communication could amount to possible difficulties such as lack of information and truncation of information flow. Developing a systematic way of information flow using a common information platform will improve access to health services.

Background: The issue with communication mediums during service provision and for making enquiries to a hospital on the type of services available, availability of physicians and beds at the receiving hospitals, and a reminder system remains a challenge for patients and providers of the health service in sub-Sharan Africa. This present study sought to review the existing healthcare communication mediums from the perspectives of patients and health professionals at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi Ghana. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed with a multilevel sampling method to select a total of 651 participants consisting of 304 patients, 303 health workers and 44 hospital directorate managers for the study. A well-structured survey questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Results: Most hospital staff (66.4%) used a blend of social media and direct means (face-to-face medium) to communicate among themselves whereas 89.8% only communicates with management through meetings sections. Predominantly, 97.4% of the staff communicated by direct means (face-to-face medium) with patients. Almost all management members of the hospital communicated with the general public using letters and official memos. Conclusions: There is evidence of combination of both traditional mediums (face-to-face) and the technological mediums (social media) for communications by health providers and health consumers. However, there is a dissatisfaction with delayed information flow and poor feedbacks with the use of the traditional mediums. Therefore, a digital mobile application communication system is recommended to offer efficient communication within and outside the Ghanaian health facilities. Keywords: Communication, hospital, patients, healthcare.

Background: Ectopic pregnancy remains a public health threat for women in reproductive age, and a major cause of maternal mortalities in the first trimester of pregnancy. Past studies in Ghana on the burden of Ectopic Pregnancy (EP) have focused on major referral health facilities with little consideration of primary health facilities. This study was set out to determine the prevalence of Ectopic Pregnancy, demographic characteristics involved and the various types of Ectopic Pregnancy seen in primary health settings in Kumasi, Ghana.Methods: A retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Suntreso Government and Tafo Government Hospitals in the Kumasi metropolitan area from 2007 to 2017. A review of 28,600 obstetric cases recorded in registers of the two facilities was done using electronic data extraction form. The data were exported into STATA/IC 14.0 for statistical analysis.Results: A prevalence of 0.76% EP was recorded over the study period of 10 years. 61.75% of the women diagnosed with EP were between the ages of 21-30 years with a mean age and standard deviation of 27.61 and 5.91 respectively. Tubal (fallopian tubes) EP was seen in 76.96% of the women diagnosed with EP. 10.18% and 7.19% of the tubal EP occurred in the cornual and fimbriae respectively. Ruptured EP was seen in 58.99% of the cases.Conclusions: The study reported EP in about one in a hundred cases. The commonest EP that emerged from this study was tubal (fallopian tube) EP. Among the tubal EP, cornual and fimbria were the commonest EP that occurred in the fallopian tube. Although cases of tubo-ovarian and ovarian EP are rare, a significant percentage were observed in this study. Early reporting and diagnosis of EP should be of great importance to prevent ruptured EP and any associated complications.