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BACKGROUND: Health-care professionals (HCPs) are at much greater risk of infection due to the exposure to the highly infectious bodily fluids and droplet nuclei and needed use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce the transmission risk. The present study was conducted with an aim of estimating the prevalence of various types of skin injuries among HCPs due to PPE usage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted after obtaining the institutional ethical approval in a dedicated COVID-19 hospital for a period of 4 months among 276 HCPs wearing grade 2 and 3 PPE kit. The survey questionnaire (Google Forms) was focused on collecting the subject's baseline data (age and gender), duty hours, and type of skin injury experienced due to PPE usage. Chi-square analysis was used to find the association of between dependent and independent variables, and an association was significant for P < 0.05. RESULTS: 51.5% of subjects wore the PPE kit for 5 or more days/week during duty hours and 64.5% of subjects daily wore the PPE kit for 2 or more hours. 81.7% of subjects have suffered from skin injury after PPE usage. The most common symptom/sign for the skin injury that occurred was indentation and pain on the back of the ears (61.5%). CONCLUSION: The frequent skin injuries due to PPE among the HCPs might make them anxious and reduce their morale at work place, so an effective preventive measure should be adopted.

Purpose: To ascertain ophthalmologist's perceptions about webinars as a method of continued medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, a 21-question survey was circulated using digital media platform to approximately 1400 ophthalmologists in India between 16th August 2020 to 31st August 2020. The questionnaire focussed on the quality and usefulness of webinars based on the Bloom's taxonomy. The responses (on 4- or 5-point Likert scale) were analyzed among three professional groups- ophthalmologists in-training, consultants in public sector, and private practitioners. Results: 393 ophthalmologists participated in the survey, with a response rate of 28%. The mean age was 34.6 ± 9.7 years, and males constituted 49.6% (199/393) of the respondents. Forty-seven percent of the respondents perceived the quality of webinars as good or excellent (185/393), 72.8% reported knowledge gain from webinars (286/393), and 63.9% felt that webinars are important in clinical practice and should continue post-COVID-19 pandemic (251/393), with distinct responses among the professional groups. The drawbacks perceived were overt number of webinars (371; 94.4%), confusion regarding which webinars to attend (313; 79.6%), repetition of the information (296; 75.3%), limited opportunity for participant interaction (146; 37.2%) and disparate weightage to the core disciplines of Ophthalmology. Conclusion: Most respondents had favorable perceptions of Ophthalmology webinars happening during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is need for improvisation in the volume of webinars, target-audience-based delivery, and participant interaction to add value to this new dimension of teaching-learning.

Background: Unsafe injection is an important cause of transmitting blood-borne infections such as hepatitis B virus, human immunodeficiency virus, and hepatitis C virus. In a country-like India, health system usually suffers from the paucity of workforce and nursing personnel are the most susceptible to unsafe injection and needle stick injury. Aim: The present study was carried out with the aim to assess the knowledge and skills among nursing personnel regarding safe injection practices and to measure the change following training session. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study, included all 230 nursing personnel those who were currently working in the hospital. A pretested, predesigned, standardized questionnaire was used. Everyday activity of the study was divided into three parts. First part of activity included pretest second part of activity consisted of 3–4 h training session and third part was posttest. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed using the SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 22.0. Results: Nearly 52.9% of the participants were aware of diseases transmitted through unsafe injection and 45.5% of participants were aware about appropriate sharp waste disposal. Only 20.6% of participants wore gloves before injection administration, and 56.1% used needle destroyer for disposing off the needles. Conclusion: Periodic reinforcement of the nursing personnel with hands on training sessions is the need of the hour to protect them from needle stick injuries and prevent the spread of blood borne pathogens in public at large.

Background: Active case-finding is provider-initiated and implies systematic searching for TB in individuals who would not spontaneously present to a health service, and bringing them into care for diagnosis and treatment. Aim: The present study was carried out with the objective to assess the yield and feasibility of active case finding strategy among household contacts of newly diagnosed pulmonary TB cases and to determine risk factors in household contact. Methods: This community-based study with cross-sectional design was conducted among the household contacts of all newly diagnosed microbiologically confirmed pulmonary TB patients registered at Tuberculosis Unit (TU), Nuh. Investigator conducted house to house visit and met respective index case and his/her household contacts to build the rapport. Results: In the present study, there were 55 sputum smear-positive index cases and 356 household contacts of index cases. The most common symptom among screening positive household contacts was cough followed by weight loss. A substantial proportion (83.8%) of symptom positive household contacts were investigated for tuberculosis and among them, 18.9% were found to be positive for tuberculosis. The overall prevalence of TB cases among household contacts was found to be 1.97%. Conclusion: The present study concludes that household contact screening for active case finding for TB is a feasible and efficient tool that can potentially result in earlier diagnosis and treatment of active TB, thus minimizing the severity and decreasing transmission. It can also contribute toward improving treatment outcomes, health sequelae, and the social and economic consequences of TB.

Introduction: The safety and effectiveness of Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (DMPA) (available by the name of “Antara” in Government of India supply) has resulted in inclusion of this injectable contraceptive in the basket of family planning choices and thus has opened the way for clients to avail of a safe, effective, and hassle-free method with full confidentiality, which is also free of cost in public health facilities all over India. Material and Methods: This community-based study with cross-sectional design was conducted during April 2019–October 2019. During first 3 months of the study, all the females who adopted the DMPA contraception were included in the study and the factors for opting DMPA were assessed. Results: Among those who had previously used contraceptives, oral pills were the most prevalent method. Most of the clients who opted to DMPA agreed that they switched because of privacy and confidentiality attached to DMPA. The side effects were reported by more than four-fifth of subjects, and the most common side effects were irregular spotting per vaginally, amenorrhea, and weight gain. Conclusion: The present study has shown some light regarding the factors responsible for injectable DMPA uptake as a family planning method and the facilitators and barriers to consistent injectable DMPA use. The study findings are expected to be utilized for framing policies to improve compliance of DMPA and making it more acceptable, client-friendly initiative.

Introduction: On account of improved life expectancy, better education and health facilities in India, the proportion of the geriatric population has gone up. In India, prevalence of depression estimated to be 4.5% in the year 2015, which affects about 57 million people. Objective: To determine the prevalence of depression and its epidemiological correlates among geriatric people residing in southern Haryana, India. Material and Methods: This community based study with cross-sectional design was conducted in rural and urban field practice areas of department of Community Medicine. Geriatric people were contacted by investigators through house to house visit. Study subjects were screened for depression by using standard shorter version Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). Pearson’s Chi-square test was used for categorical variables. Stepwise multiple logistic regression was used to find out an independent factors associated with depression. Result: A total of 308 elderly persons belonging to rural and urban areas participated in our study. Prevalence of depression (GDS score >5) among the elderly population in the present study was found to be 22.72% (95% CI: 18.2-27.8). Conclusion: Present study depicted that every fourth elderly person was suffering with depression. Nuclear family, sleep problems, not consulting elderly in decisions, chronic morbidity, lack of physical activities, and death of close relatives were identified as risk factors of depression.

Introduction: The present century had noticed a rapid transition of society from undernourished and malnourished to overweight and overt obesity. This transition was initially reported in developed countries but now this phenomenon has been noticed in developing countries. The study was conducted to assess the knowledge about the obesity among school children and to find out the correlation between the knowledge and the actual BMI of the school children Material & Method: A List of all the students of class 6th -10th was gathered from the Principal’s office of selected school. The necessary information was collected using a pretested structured questionnaire. The information regarding weight, height and BMI was calculated using a standardized protocol. Result: A total of 921 student participated in the study. Most common age of participants was 14 to15 years. Overweight and obese were more prevalent among male students and students from private school. Majority of the participants were aware about the obesity. Watching television, playing video games, fast food intake, number of time breakfast slip and mean soda intake were significantly associated with obesity. Conclusion: Watching television, playing video games, fast food intake, number of time breakfast slip and mean soda intake were significantly associated with obesity

Background: Violence against women is a universal phenomenon that persists in all communities and in all countries of the world and the perpetrator of that violence is often well-known to the victim. Domestic violence in particular continues to be frighteningly common and well-accepted as "normal" within too many societies. Objectives: (1) The primary aim of this study is to find out the extent of different type of domestic violence and to identify various risk factors for domestic violence against married women. (2) The secondary aim is to identify the various protective factors of domestic violence against married women. Materials and Methods: The present study was a population based cross-sectional study carried out in the urban area of Gwalior city for a period of one year. Stratified random sampling technique was used for the selection of the samples. The study participants were interviewed using a pretested semi-structured open-ended questionnaire. Proportion, Pearson′s, chi-square test and odds ratio were calculated for the analysis of the study. Result: Of the 144 study participants, 68 participants reported some form of domestic violence, which was either physical, sexual or emotional. The most common type of violence reported was physical violence. The most important risk factor for domestic violence was alcoholism followed by literacy status. Majority of the abused women were dependent on their husbands for money, material assets and expenditure. Conclusion: The study hereby recommends that to prevent domestic violence government has to take stringent action for making women more self-reliant especially by making the women more literate and more financially independent.

Introduction: India has the highest TB burden accounting for one-fifth of the global incidence with an estimated 1.98 million cases. Non- allopathic practitioners are the major service providers especially in rural and peri-urban areas, treating not just patients of diarrhea, respiratory infections and abdominal Pain but also of tuberculosis. Objectives: To assess the knowledge of sign and symptoms of TB and its management as per the RNTCP guidelines and to assess the practicing pattern regarding tuberculosis. Material & Methods: The present was carried out among the registered non allopathic practitioners providing their services in Gwalior District during the study period. A total of 150 non allopathic practitioners of various methods from both government and private sectors were interviewed using a pre-designed, pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. The information was collected on the General profile of the participant, knowledge about signs and symptoms of TB and its management, practices commonly adopted in the management and their views on involvement of non allopathic practitioners in RNTCP programme. Result: The average score of government practitioners was 7.3 compared to 4.6 by private practitioners. There was a statistically significant difference between the two group on issue related to the management of TB patients as per the RNTCP guidelines. Government practitioners relied mostly on sputum examination for diagnosis and follow up compared to private practitioners who chose other modalities like X-ray, blood examination for this work. Conclusion: There is a gap in knowledge and practices of practitioners of both the sectors. Some serious efforts were required to upgrade the knowledge of non allopathic practitioners if the government is serious about controlling tuberculosis in India.

Introduction: Medical education is one of the core part of educational system of any country. Medical education requires undergraduate students to study a wide range of medical specialties. It is often assumed that students do not make their career preferences until after they have graduated from medical school. So the reasons and factors responsible for preferences need to be found out among medical students. Material and Methods: It was a Cross sectional study on 180 medical students to assess preference for specialty and factors responsible. Results: Out of total 190 medical students more or less everyone (97.89%) wanted to pursue specialization and majority of them (96.84%) wanted to pursue the same in Medical Field(p>0.05). majority of male students were interested to pursue their specialization in the field of medicine (37.63%), surgery (23.65%) and pediatrics (13.97%). On the other hand female students were more interested in medicine (24.17%), pediatrics (32.96%) and obstetrics & gynecology (24.17%)(p

While real progress has been made in improving access to family planning globally, the unmet needs continue to grow. So the present study was designed to determine the percentage of unmet needs of family planning in Gwalior district and to study the various co-relative factors responsible for the unmet need for family planning. The present study was a Cross Sectional Descriptive study carried out from Jan 2007 to July 2007. 520 married women were interviewed using a pre designed, pre tested structured proforma. The district was divided into urban and rural areas. The rural area was further divided into four blocks. From each block one PHC and five Sub Centers under the respective PHC were selected randomly. From each Sub Centre 11 married women were selected. The Urban area was divided into four divisions and from each division five wards were selected randomly. From each ward 20 married women were selected. Proportion, Chi square test and ODDs ratio were applied to interpret the result. The unmet need of family planning in Gwalior district was 21.70%. It was higher in rural area and women of the age group of 15-19 years. The unmet needs were also higher among women who did not have any media exposure or did not discuss about family planning with their husbands. The present study concludes that Family Planning services should be specifically directed toward the married women of the age group of 20 years or less.

Introduction: In the world as a whole there appears to be a shift from under-nourishment towards over-nourishment making more and more children, adolescents, adults and even elderly to be overweight and obese. Objectives: Study aimed to find out the age and sex wise commonness of over-weight & obesity amongst the families of an overtly different socio-economic environment and its trend in the members of one type of families. Materials & Methods: The undergraduate medical students are supposed to maintain record of individual health (including height & weight) of their own family as well as that of the allotted family. The data collected (record maintained ) by students was utilized to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI). Results: Out of total 291 subjects (males 168; females 123) in students own family 28.9% (28.0%; 30.1%) were overweight and 5.9% (6.0%; 5.7%) were obese. The similar figures for 262 subjects (males 143 & females 119) in the allotted families were 20.2% (18.5%; 20.2%) and 6.5% (4.2%; 8.4%) respectively. The respective percentages of under nourished individuals were 18.6 (17.9; 19.5) and 35.5 (37.8; 32.8). Thus over-nutrition was more common amongst the members of students own families (34.8% vs. 26.7%) and under-nutrition was more common amongst the members of allotted families (35.5% vs. 18.6%) For the years 2000-2003, BMI amongst individuals of students own families the under-nutrition in the age group of 15-24 years amongst males increased from 15.9% to 32.9% and over-nutrition from 13.6% to 20.5%. There was no case of overweight and obesity up to the age of 34 years in the previous analysis which was 2.6% in the present analysis Previous results demonstrated overweight to be more common in males (32.4% Vs. 24.4% in females) and obesity being more common females ( 6.3% Vs. 2.6% in females). Conclusion: Males are increasingly becoming prey of malnutrition (adolescents for under-nutrition and adults & elderly for over-nutrition. More studies covering larger samples are required to be conducted on a more frequent basis.

Background: Over the time there has been spectrum of changes in the universe. It may be at physical, chemical and cultural level. People have adopted newer life styles like their working style, clothing’s, food habits and so on. One of the pertinent example of this newer food habits is rising consumption of soft drinks rather than traditional home made drinks. This study was aimed to find out various determinants responsible for this rising trend of soft drinking so that effective intervention can be undertaken to overcome this creeping problem. Objectives: To find out the prevalence of soft drinking consumption among the students and to assess the determinants of soft drink consumption among the students. Materials and methods: It was a cross sectional study. A sample of 200 students was selected from the both govt. and private schools by stratified random sampling. Then they all were interviewed by using pre tested, semi structured proforma. Later on data was analyzed manually and by using suitable statistical software. Results: Frequent drinking of soft drinks was found more among the students of private schools than govt. (p < 0.05). A significant association was found between pocket money, TV watching and frequency of soft drinking (p< 0.05).Other reasons which were found to be responsible by far for frequent soft drinking like lack of awareness regarding hazards, frequent TV watching, desire of new taste, lack of health education from the parents side etc. Conclusion: Soft drinking consumption is creeping day by day amongst the children with out knowing their hazards. And they are the future of any country so there should be effective intervention from both sides govt. as well as parents to get rid of it at earliest.

AbstractInformation technology has radically changed the way that many people work and think. Over the years, technology has touched a new acme and now it is not confined to developed countries. Developing countries such as India have kept pace with the world in modern technology. Healthcare professionals can no longer ignore the application of information technology to healthcare because they are key to e-health. This study was conducted to enlighten the perspective and implications of computers among healthcare professionals, with the objective to assess the knowledge, use, and need of computers among healthcare professionals. A cross-sectional study of 240 healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and pharmacists, was conducted. Each participant was interviewed using a pretested, semistructured format. Of 240 healthcare professionals, 57.91% were knowledgeable about computers. Of them, 22.08% had extensive knowledge and 35.83% had partial knowledge. Computer knowledge was greater among the age group 20–25 years (high knowledge—43.33% and partial knowledge—46.66%). Of 99 males, 21.21% were found to have good knowledge and 42.42% had partial knowledge. A majority of doctors and nurses used computer for study purposes. The remaining healthcare professionals used it basically for the sake of entertainment, Internet, and e-mail. A majority of all healthcare professionals (95.41%) requested computer training, which according to them would definitely help to make their future more bright and nurtured as well as to enhance their knowledge regarding computers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]