Medical documentation practice and its association with knowledge, attitude, training, and availability of documentation guidelines in Ethiopia, 2022. A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Documentation practice plays a great role in decreasing medication error, continuity of patient care, effective communication between professionals, and evidence-based decision-making. Even though documentation practices in Ethiopia were undone. So the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the pooled level of documentation practices in Ethiopia among healthcare professionals. Method: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed to review either published or unpublished studies in Ethiopia regarding medical or clinical documentation practices. All studies in Google Scholar, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Hinari, CINAHL, and Global Health databases were searched. Meta-analysis was performed using STATA 14 software. The heterogeneity and publication bias was assessed using the I2statistics and Egger regression test, respectively. Forest plots were used to present the pooled prevalence with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Result: A total of 12 articles with 4362 participants were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The pooled level of documentation practice was 50.11% (95%CI: 46.27, 55.89) among healthcare professionals in Ethiopia. Knowledge [AOR = 2.62 (95% CI: 1.92, 3.59)], attitude [AOR = 2.67 (95% CI: 1.70, 4.19)], receiving training [AOR = 2.89 (95% CI: 2.18, 3.83)], and availability of documentation guidelines [AOR = 2.67 (95% CI: 1.61, 4.44)] were found to be significant factors. Conclusion: The pooled level of documentation practice in Ethiopia was relatively low. Good knowledge, a favorable attitude towards documentation, receiving training, and availability of documentation guidelines in the organization were factors affecting documentation practices. Providing documentation training, and increasing their knowledge, attitude, and availability of documentation guidelines will increase documentation practices among healthcare professionals.