scholarly journals Factors associated with open air defecation in a rural field practice area of a medical college: a cross sectional study

Author(s):  
Arshiya Taranum ◽  
Satya Reddy ◽  
Muhammed Muntazeem G. ◽  
Bhaskar Kurre

Background: Open defecation is the practice where people go out in fields, bushes, forests, open bodies of water or other open spaces rather than using the toilet to defecate. The health hazards due open air defecation are soil and water pollution, contamination of foods and propagation of flies which results in the spread of diseases like typhoid, cholera, dysenteries, diarrheas, hookworm diseases, ascariasis, viral hepatitis and other intestinal infections.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at Singanodi village. 122 houses were selected for interview. One member from each household, preferably the head of the family was interviewed. The questionnaire included the socio-demographic features, practices about sanitary latrine usage and awareness about the diseases due to open air defecation. Data was entered in MS Excel and analysed using SPSS vs 20.Results: In the study the prevalence of open air defecation was found to be 63.1%. Majority of the study participants (52.5%) had sanitary latrines in their houses. 15.6% of the household practices open air defecation in spite of having toilets in their homes. Significant association was found between education and overcrowding with open air defecation.Conclusions: The study reinforces the importance of creating awareness about the importance of sanitary latrines and involvement of Government, NGO and communities is essential to stop open air defecation practices.

Author(s):  
Gowri Shankar ◽  
Jayaraj M. Ramachandra ◽  
Sarojini S. Hunshikatti

Background: Widows are the most vulnerable segment among the elderly population in India. Elderly widows face several social, economic, emotional and cultural deprivations due to their gender, widowhood and old age. Hence, this study was done with the objective to know the socio demographic profile and morbidity of elderly widows residing in urban field practice area of S.N. Medical College, Bagalkot.Methods: This cross sectional study was done in 8 Anganwadi areas during 2016 by cluster random sampling. All the elderly widows residing in the areas were included after informed consent. Ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional review board. Data regarding their socio demographic profile, cause of death of husband, the number of years being a widow, health seeking behavior and their chronic morbidities were noted. Height and weight of each elderly widow was measured and body mass index calculated using the formula weight in kilogram divided by height in meter 2 and classified according to South East Asian category. Blood pressure was recorded three times with the widow in a sitting posture in an interval of 3 minutes and the least value was documented according to JNU classification.Results: Out of 140 elderly widows who were residents of the areas, majority (69.29%) were between 60 to 74 years of age followed by 27.86% between 75 to 89 years of age. It was observed that 75% of them were illiterate. The leading cause of death of husband was coronary heart disease (19.29%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (12.86%) and alcoholic cirrhosis (10.71%). On examination of the non-hypertensive widows, it was observed that 36.06% were in Stage I and 22.68% were in Stage II of hypertension (JNU classification).Conclusions: Elderly widows are a vulnerable segment of the community. Their health care needs are a priority and regular health check-ups are to be planned.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1566
Author(s):  
Vinay Jishtu ◽  
Pramod K. Jaret ◽  
Prem Chand Machhan ◽  
Nidhi Chauhan

Background: Acute undifferentiated fever illness (AUFI) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries, owing to its non-specific features. The aim of the study was to delineate the causes and clinical parameters associated with AUFI.Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among 156 patients of AUFI, admitted in the Department of Medicine, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India, from November 2018 to October 2019.Results: The mean age of the study participants was 37.37±14.2 years. The study participants admitted for acute undifferentiated febrile illness had fever with mean duration of 8.38±3.7 days before hospitalization. The most common aetiology of AUFI was found to be enteric fever (44%), followed by scrub typhus (35%). The majority of the cases presented from the month of September to December.Conclusions: The aetiology and clinical spectrum of AUFI is wide and variable. To outline a proper algorithm to contain it, meticulous analysis of the hospital data at each level is necessary.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0253808
Author(s):  
Dhan Bahadur Shrestha ◽  
Nagendra Katuwal ◽  
Ayush Tamang ◽  
Agrima Paudel ◽  
Anu Gautam ◽  
...  

Background Medical students are more prone to burnout than the general population and students of other faculties due to the demanding nature of medical education with limited time and resources. Burnout has a negative impact on the academics and personal life of the students which can continue into their professional life and ultimately hamper patient care. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of burnout among medical students of a medical college and find its association with age, gender, and year of study. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students of a medical college in Kathmandu, Nepal from 14 January to 7 March, 2021. Stratified sampling followed by a simple random sampling technique was employed to select study participants. Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire using the English version of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory adapted for students (OLBI-S) and analyzed in STATA version 15. Results The prevalence of burnout was found out to be 65.9% (n = 229). And of the remaining, 12.7% were exhausted, 11.4% were disengaged and 10.0% were neither exhausted nor disengaged. Burnout had no significant association with age in years, gender, and year of study. Conclusions This study shows an alarming prevalence of burnout in almost two-thirds of medical students. These results indicate the necessity of employing effective strategies by relevant authorities for the mental well-being of future physicians. Further multicenter prospective studies are required for a better understanding of the prevalence and associated factors of burnout.


Author(s):  
Dhananjay Kumar Singh ◽  
Priyanka Kesarwani ◽  
Shivani Sinha ◽  
Vipul Kant Singh

Background: Tobacco abuse is one of the biggest curses that modern society has come across. It is not confined to any one country or region alone, but has widely afflicted the globe. The most susceptible time for initiating use of tobacco in India is adolescence and early adulthood, ages 15-24 years while some start as young as 10 years.Approximately 55,500 adolescent start using tobacco every day in India, joining the 7.7 million young people under the age of 15 who already use tobacco on a regular basis.Methods: It is a community based cross-sectional study conducted among school going adolescent boys of urban field practice area of medical college during July to September 2017. Data was collected through pretested semi-structured self -administered questionnaire given to students by the investigators. Data collected were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 17 software.Results: The prevalence of ever use of tobacco was 17.5% among school going adolescent boys in urban field practice area. In the present study it was observed that 174 (95.1%) adolescent boys had knowledge regarding hazards of tobacco. 110 adolescents (60.1%) had knowledge that passive smoking was harmful.Conclusions: The study suggests that the prevalence of tobacco consumption was high among school going adolescent boys in urban field practice area of medical college. The knowledge of students regarding harmful effects of tobacco was not adequate. Attitude and practice regarding tobacco consumption is also not satisfactory.


Author(s):  
Anupam Parashar ◽  
Nidhi Chauhan ◽  
Rahul Gupta ◽  
Vineet Kumar

Background: Bio-ethics i.e. health care ethics is a set of moral principles, beliefs and values that guide us in making choices about medical care. This novel study was carried out with an objective of assessment of knowledge regarding the medical ethics among the resident doctors of Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla Himachal Pradesh.Methods: This descriptive analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, Himachal Pradesh among the resident doctors using predesigned, structured, self-administered anonymous close-ended questionnaire. We analyzed the data using Stata software version 12.Results: There were a total of 61 study participants, who consented to participate, of which more than half were females (52.5%). The mean age of the study participants was 28.6±0.63 years. Regarding the source of knowledge about medical ethics most of the study participants had acquired the information during their experience at their workplace (42.6%). A majority of the male participants disagreed that confidentiality while providing the health care services should be abandoned (54.3%). More than 90% of the study participants agreed that incorporation of medical ethics is necessary in undergraduate curriculum.Conclusions: Incorporation of a formal structured teaching on medical ethics in the undergraduate curriculum is the need of the hour. Besides research work, the medical ethics committee in the institution should also act as the guiding hands to address the grievances faced by the doctors during medical practice.


Author(s):  
Tarun Kumar Sarkar ◽  
Pulak Kumar Jana ◽  
Jasmine M. ◽  
Timiresh Kumar Das ◽  
Mrinmoy Adhikary ◽  
...  

Background: Thalassemia is more prevalent in India. The main treatment of Thalassemia is blood transfusion. But the transfusion of blood has many side effects like iron overload, transfusion related infections etc. The objectives of the study were to assess the adequacy of blood transfusion for thalassemic patients and to determine the magnitude of transfusion transmitted infections among those patients.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal for 1 month with the sample size of 116. The blood samples from the patients were taken from the patients attending for blood transfusion in transfusion centre of Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital for two weeks dated from 24.04.2017 to 05.05.2017 to check for the hemoglobin, ferritin level and hepatitis B, C and HIV infection.Results: Among the 116 patients, even after transfusion, 94% of the study participants have their hemoglobin levels below 7 gm/dl. Only 2 individuals got their hemoglobin levels more than 9 gm/dl and only 1 patient got HIV infection post transfusion which accounts for 0.9% of study population.Conclusions: Frequent Hb estimation will help to maintain the adequacy of blood transfusion and proper screening of the blood before transfusion can help in reducing these transfusion transmitted infections.


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