Effective Communication and Conflict Management Workshop for Nursing Interns: Experience at a Tertiary Care Hospital of Delhi, India

Introduction: Communication is an important skill required in health care settings to deal with many problems including conflict management. Nurse serves patients in challenging environment with limited infrastructure, overcrowded wards and OPD, which poses the challenge of conflict and its management. Method: Two workshops on the topic of communication and conflict management for nursing interns were conducted, these included various methods of teaching such as lecture and role-plays and interactive activities based on real-life situations. Data were collected on a pretested feedback forms and responses were obtained on 5-point Likert scale and also by open-ended questions. Result: Majority of the nurse interns strongly agreed/ agreed that the topics were appropriate, increased their knowledge and they would recommend the workshop to their peers in future. They had learnt how to overcome barriers (93.61%), professional communication (87.23%), and good communication skills (72.34%). Other take home messages, were, be a good listener, simple and precise message and empathy. They had also learnt various styles to solve conflict (95.48%). Conclusion: Student nurses were keen to learn about the effective communication and conflict management and were willing to implement learning at workplace.

Analysis of Port Site Complications & Measures to Prevent them

Background: Port site complications following elective laparoscopic surgeries are rare. Port site infection is the most common complication. Objectives: The study was conducted to analyze port site complications occurring in the patients undergoing laparoscopic surgeries and measures to prevent them. Patients and Methods: Total 408 patients who underwent various laparoscopic surgeries were included in the study. Follow up was done for 3 months postoperatively. Port site was examined for any complication. Result: Out of 408 patients 24 patients (5.88%) developed port site complications. 14 patients developed post site infection, 4 patients had port site discharge with sinus formation, 4 patients developed port site bleeding and 2 patients had port site hernia. No case of port site metastasis or visceral injury while port insertion were found. No patient had port site omental entrapment. Conclusion: Minimally invasive surgery is a safe and effective with minimal complication.

Apprehending Air Conditioning Systems in Context to COVID-19 and Human Health: A Brief Communication

Nowadays human race which is strongest of all creatures on the planet is frightened to move out without precautions because of coronavirus. In the current article, a brief overview of the use of air-conditioners available in different designs is addressed in context to COVID-19. Since this virus is often transmitted by exhalations from infected airways, so Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems may be important to enhance or mitigate the spread of the infection in indoor dwellings. The design of the building is directly related to the airflow through the structure of the building. One of the biggest problems that is mushrooming out of this crisis is the use of air-conditioners. The air-conditioners produce artificial built environment, which in some cases may not be good for human beings. But at home for attaining thermal comfort, it remains a question mark, whether building architecture using air-conditioner is safe or not. The paper herein tries to co-relate the literature available for providing a brief communication to these questions.

A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on Knowledge regarding Occupational Health Hazards among Factory Workers in Selected Factory of Indore, M. P., India

Background: Factory workers are vulnerable to various diseases and accidents are common in factories. They do not have much knowledge on the various occupational health hazards and the way to preventing it. Methodology:Structured teaching programme followed by administration of structured knowledge questionnaire was used as an appropriate and effective method to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of factory workers regarding occupational health hazards. Ethical approval and patient consent was taken. The tool was found to be statistically reliable for the main study. Result:A significant improvement was seen in post-test average knowledge score of the workers after administration of structured teaching programme. Conclusion: The pre-test findings showed that knowledge of factory workers regarding occupational health hazards was inadequate. The structured teaching programme proved to be a very effective method of transforming information.

Attitude of General Population towards Organ Donation in a Rural Community of Ernakulam District

Background: Organ donation is defined as an act of giving one or more organs, without compensation, for transplantation to another person. For many of the end stage organ diseases, organ transplantation is the most preferred treatment. The need for organ transplantation is higher than the availability. For the transplantation program to be successful awareness regarding organ donation is needed and people must have a positive attitude towards donating organs. The present study was undertaken to assess the attitude of general population towards organ donation residing in a rural community of Ernakulam District. Materials and methods: A descriptive analytical survey was conducted to assess the attitude of general population towards organ donation. A 5 point likert scale was used to assess the attitude towards organ donation. 100 subjects were selected using convenient sampling technique. The collected data was analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The results of the study revealed that among 100 subjects, 81% of general population were having positive attitude, 19% were having neutral attitude and none of the subjects were having negative attitude towards organ donation. Even though majority of subjects were having positive attitude towards organ donation only 34% subjects were willing for organ donation. There was a significant association between the attitude of general population towards organ donation with demographic variables like religion and history of organ transplantation among family members/ relatives/ friends at P<0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: The study revealed that majority of the participants were having positive attitude towards organ donation.

Knowledge and Practices of Unani Medicine among Patients Attending OPD at a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

ntroduction: Unani medicine is one of the most commonly practiced form of traditional system of medicines in India. There is dearth of published data showing the knowledge and practices of general population about Unani treatment modality. Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge and practices and to determine factors associated with the use of Unani medicine in participants attending Unani Out Patient Department, at a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional observational study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital to assess the knowledge and practices of Unani system of medicine among 365 participants attending the out-patient department between July 2019 to September 2019. Result: Out of 365 subjects 51% were males and 49% were females with mean age 40.15 ± 14.62 years, ranged between 16 to 90 years of age. Of the 365 participants, majority of patients were aware of Unani medicine, 75.1% of the patients came to know about Unani Medicine from sources such as family, friends and neighbours and 73.9% believed that Unani medicine is effective. Although their practices of Unani medicine were limited. Conclusion: OPD attenders had very good awareness about Unani medicine, however, limited practices were observed among them. Therefore, promotion of Unani healthcare through evidence-based practices is required for better acceptability among people.

Communication Skills for Interns: Evolution and Assessment of a Training Workshop in a Medical College of New Delhi

Considering the incidents of violence in health care setups reported from all over the country, we developed a one-day workshop to orient interns towards communication, conflict management, stress management and prescription writing skills. The objective was to impart training on effective communication and conflict management skills which are crucial to reduce the incidence of workplace violence, and improve the quality of services provided in our hospital. We describe the evolution of content and assessment of the workshops conducted for interns posted in the Department of Community Medicine during a period of one year since 01.01.2018. fter extensive review of literature, we prepared interactive presentations, developed games, innovative activities and role plays in context of the doctor-patient relationship. We modified the teaching learning methods to increase participant involvement, and added the use of video clips and flip-charts. Assessment of take home messages was done using an anonymous open-ended questionnaire (n=86). Codes were identified for the responses under three domains i.e. communication skills, conflict management and prescription writing. Likert scale was used to rate statements concerning the overall feedback for the workshop in a subset of interns (n=54). The most frequently reported take-home messages were on improving listening skills (41, 48%), learning the various conflict management techniques (61, 71%) and writing generic names and correct dosages (54, 63%), in each of the three sessions held on effective communication, conflict management and prescription writing, respectively. Majority of the interns strongly agreed that the workshop was needed (31, 57%), increased their knowledge (28, 52%), the small group exercises were beneficial (36, 67%) and that they would implement the skills they learnt (34, 64%). In conclusion, interactive, small group workshops on communication skills and conflict management for interns are a felt need, and have motivated them to implement various soft skills in their place of work.